Melissa's Heart and Home

I just found this lovely blog by a Marine pilot's wife. She has a passion and a flare for decorating. Go check out her beautiful blog and enter her grand giveaway!

Squash Harvest Soup

Right up front I am going to let you know that I am not a fan of winter squash. It doesn't cause my gag reflex to kick in or anything like that. It's just if given a choice I choose no thank you. But I was reading through my favorite foodie blogs and ran across this recipe. [In Praise of Leftovers (you will find the link on the right side of this blog) is a really lovely blog, so go check it out.] When I started reading through the recipe, it actually sounded appetizing. So, I thought, what the heck. I'll give it a whirl. Even if I didn't care for it, I knew my hubby would like it. He loves squash and it's always been a big disappointment to him that I rarely prepared it.

This is not exactly the same version as hers. As we all do with recipes, we tweak them to fit our needs, tastes and personality. This has been tweaked to fit me. You can check out both recipes, and add your own tweaks. So, here we go.

Ingredients

olive oil

1 kabocha squash

2 small butternut squash

2 small delicata squash

1 large apple cut into wedges

1 onion coarsely chopped

2 large whole carrots cut into sticks

6 large cloves garlic peeled

2 tsp. curry

1 tsp. garam masala

1 TBS. sugar

salt

5 cup water

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup cream

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Halve squashes, remove seeds, brush with oil, place cut side down on old cookie sheets. Place the apple, onion, carrots, and garlic in a bowl. Toss with a little olive oil, the spices, sugar and salt. Place this mixture around the squash.

This is a kabocha, and I will explain how I handle it in a sec.

Place baking sheets in oven and roast until veggies are tender and slightly charred, about 1 1/2 hours.

OK, I couldn't halve the kabocha...too tough and big. after I did the first roasting, I threw the whole kabocha in the oven and roasted it until it was extremely soft.

Note. put something under it to catch the juice. I didn't and now have to clean the oven. Silly me.

Once everything has cooled, scrape the meat from the squash, and place it and all of the other roasted fruit and veggies in a large bowl. The kabocha will still have the seeds, so you will have to work around that. You won't need all of the meat from it, about 3-4 cups, so it's pretty easy to scoop around.

In batches puree the mixture in a blender adding part of the 5 cups of water as you go. As I finished pureeing each batch, I pushed it through a sieve to make it even smoother. If you have a chinois, you certainly want to use that.

Once everything is pureed and sieved (is that even a word?) and in a large pot, add the oj and cream, more salt to taste and water to thin to the desired consistency. Heat through, stirring occasionally so it doesn't scorch.

When you serve it you could lightly stir in some more cream.

Notes: This turned out better than I expected. It's a rich hearty soup that just smacks of fall. Be warned, though, this is a fairly labor intensive soup. But is makes a lovely starter for a dinner party, or just a nice supper soup served with biscuits. This made about 10 cups so I was able to share with my daughter's family. Nice way to say I love you. Enjoy!

Halloween Treat for My Family

It's 3 in the morning (before the clocks were set back) and the neighbor dog has been going non-stop. The people next door just got home and have finally taken him in...but, of course, now I am wide awake. Argh!

So, I thought I would take the time and post pictures from Ronan's (our grandson) first Halloween.

Ronan started copying us laughing and it was such great fun I had to capture it. This is the first video I have posted, so bare with the placement. I'll get it figured out eventually.

And I think we get to have him Sunday, overnight, and Monday. So that is really a sweet treat for us. We love that little monkey...and are spoiling him rotten. So...much...fun! The reward for parenthood!

Caldo Verde (Porteguese Soup)

Last Tuesday I had planned on making this wonderful soup. It was a drizzly, dreary day...perfect for soup. But the fates conspired against me. First, as I reviewed the recipes and began to check my ingredients, I found that I was out of chicken stock. OK, fine, I'll make some and blog how to cut up a chicken and make the stock. I prep the chicken, grab my camera, and...dead battery. At that point I decided to just make the stock Tuesday and the soup on Wednesday and call it good. And that's what I did. And I am just now getting around to posting the recipe. If you don't like it, reduce my pay. But first make the soup.

For this soup, I combined a couple of recipes from the two new soup cookbooks that I recently acquired, and added a few touches of my own. This is a spicy hearty soup that is guaranteed to stick to your ribs. And be sure to have a good crusty bread to soup up the broth with.

Ingredients

1 lb. chorizo

2-3 TBS. oil, butter or mix of the two

1 onion chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

1 large carrot chopped

3-4 cloves garlic minced or grated

6 cups chicken stock

4 medium red potatoes peeled and diced

1 14 1/2 oz. canned diced tomatoes with juice

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 TBS. tomato paste

1 tsp. ground sage

1/2 half small head cabbage shredded

salt/pepper to taste

1/4 cup parsley chopped

If you purchase already cooked chorizo, sliced it and brown it. If you have uncooked, cook according to package directions and slice. I found Johnsonville chorizo, and it worked great. Remove from pan and set aside.

In a large pot heat the oil and add the onion. Cook for a few minutes and add the celery, carrots and garlic. Cook on medium low for about 10 minutes. Add the sausage and heat for about 5 minutes. Add the stock and the next 5 ingredients. Heat to boiling, cover, and reduce heat to simmer for 1 hour. Add cabbage and salt and pepper. Simmer another 1/2 hour. Add the parsley just before serving. Yum, yum, and yum. Remember what I said about crusty bread.

Notes: This really is a perfect soup for a cold nasty day. It will certainly warm you up. I know this is a soup I am going to make frequently. I hope you will, too. Enjoy!

Best-Ever Lemon Meringue Pie

This weekend we celebrated my eldest's son's 35 birthday. Whew! That makes me old. And, yes, Maureen, you and Matt are considered family. We really had a wonderful time with a burrito bar that my second son and his finance put together, a pub type trivia game (that was so fun!), and my hubby's famous pies. He is such a talented piemaker that he really puts me to shame. He made a traditional pumpkin pie and a lemon meringue. I offered to make the pumpkin. I mean, how hard is it to mix the ingredients in a bowl? But, no, he wanted to do both. Do you think he might have a trust issue there? So Saturday morning he was up at the crack of dawn making pies. Do you have any idea how soothing it is to wake up to those aromas? It was as if I had died and gone to heaven.

The recipe that we have used for lemon meringue pie for over 25 years comes from my favorite of the Farm Journal cookbooks, Farm Journal's Best-Ever Recipes. This is the cookbook that started the whole obsession with this series. It was given to us when we were living in a little hamlet in Colorado by my hubby's boss. And it has been one of my go to cookbooks ever since. I have found very few recipes that haven't been absolutely wonderful. So, ta-da, the pie.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup water

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 TBS. butter

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Combine 1 1/2 cup, sugar, 1 1/2 cup water and 1/2 tsp. salt in saucepan; heat to boiling. Mix cornstarch and 1/3 cup water to make smooth paste. Gradually add to boiling mixture, stirring constantly. Cook until thick and clear. Remove from heat.

Beat together egg yolks and lemon juice; stir into mixture. Return to heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles again. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and lemon rind. Cover; cool to lukewarm.

Combine egg white and 1/4 tsp. salt in bowl; beat until frothy. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until glossy peaks form. Stir 2 rounded tablespoons of meringue into lukewarm filling. Pour into pie shell. Top with remaining meringue, spreading evenly.

Bake in 325 degree oven 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Notes: What makes my hubby's pies so scrumptious are his crusts. The secret is not to overwork the dough (which I always do). Hubby works at turbo speed in everything he does, and though this can be a bit irritating at times, it serves him well when making pie crust. And something we stumbled on to by accident, is using whole wheat flour for 1/4 of the flour required for the crust. We really like the results. Enjoy!

This is kind of a P.S. After he had finished the pies a recipe showed up on one of the blogs that I follow for Pumpkin Oat Scones. So I made a batch last night. They are yummy and healthy.

Go check out the recipe! Pumpkin Oat Scones.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Yesterday was long day at the hospital as my hubby underwent the last of the procedures required for a clinical trial of a new cancer drug. Let's just say it was not a fun-filled day. We had to be at the hospital by 6 a.m. and finally arrived back home at 2 p.m. That's when the good part of the day occurred! On my doorstep were the two new (slightly used) cookbooks I had ordered from Amazon's used booksellers. Considering I had just placed the order Sunday and they were already here was amazing! But, anyway, it sure cheered up our day.

The two cookbooks I purchased were The Big Book of Soups & Stews by Maryana Vollstedt and The Best Recipe Soups & Stews by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. I have a method to my madness. I love eating and making good soups and stews. My hubby also loves them...maybe even more than I. My goal is to become accomplished enough in cooking them that I can offer soup and stew cooking classes, basics through advanced, through the community ed and parks and rec programs around here. Good idea, don't ya think? Anyway, both of these books have most of the basics for soup making in them as well as a multitude of recipes. This was also my thinking in registering for a soup cooking class at Sur La Table. Look out soups, here I come.

So, after a rough day of medical yuck, and the weather was rainy and blustery to add to the ickiness, what could be more comforting than tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches? I mean, really, isn't that what your mom made you when you had had a rough day? Only it was soup out of a can, right? And cheese from either the box or unwrapped slices. Well! Not for my honey. He needed excellent grilled cheese and tomato soup.

So I started pawing my way through the two books, combined a bit from both and created, sort of, this yumminess. Now, be forwarned, this much more work than opening a can or, nowadays, a box. But it was so worth the work!

Ingredients

5-6 medium tomatoes

1 26 oz. canned whole tomatoes

1 1/2 TBS. brown sugar

4 TBS. butter

1/4-1/2 finely chopped onion

1 TBS. tomato paste

pinch ground cloves or allspice

2 TBS flour

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. sugar

2 TBS. brandy or dry sherry

Salt to taste

Remove the skin of the fresh tomatoes by immersing in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then into cold water for a minute or so. Skins should easily slip off. Then slice in half, and remove seeds and core. Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Drain canned tomatoes, saving the juice. Slice these tomatoes in half and remove seeds. Place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake in 450 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. When they are done, let them cool slightly and remove to a bowl.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions, tomato paste and cloves, and cook 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the flour stirring constantly to make a smooth paste. Let cook a few minutes to rid the paste of the flour taste. Slowly stir in the chicken broth, the juice from the tomatoes and the roasted tomatoes. Cover, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl. I just have a large round strainer with a fine mesh. I aspire to a chinois, but have to wait until my ship comes in.

Pour the tomatoes into a blender and puree until smooth. You may need to add some of the strained liquid to help this process out. I then mashed the puree through the stainer to increase the smooth texture. Pour back into the rinsed out saucepan and add the cream and sugar and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in the sherry and salt to taste. This can be saved for a couple of days in the fridge.

Notes: As I stated, this is a bit of work, but the rewards make it worth it. This is not the overly sweet soup that comes already made. It has a bit more of a tang which my hubby and I decided we liked. A bit more sugar could be added if you like yours sweeter. We also bumped up the traditional grilled cheese sandwiches a bit by making them with muenster and bacon on English muffin bread. After a tough day we were now thoroughly comforted. Enjoy!

Cherry Tomato Saute

OK, here's the thing...I don't really care much for vegetables. I mean they are fine in soups, stew, casseroles, anything that has other cool ingredients for the veggies to rub elbows with. But as a stand alone side dish, not so much. Then on my quest for FJ cookbooks, I acquired one with the title Farm Journal's Best-Ever Vegetable Recipes. After perusing the recipes, the thought occurred to me that maybe I just needed more variety in my veggie cooking. What a revelation! So, my first post from that particular FJ cookbook is what my hubby calls a keeper. He told me I couldn't make it too often because he almost couldn't stop himself from devouring the entire bowl.

As I read over the original recipe I felt there were some changes that needed to be made to increase flavor. I exchanged grape tomatoes for the cherry. I also added zucchini and fennel. The original called for fennel seed, but I thought, "What the heck. Let's shoot the moon and use fennel bulb." Pretty brave of me since I have never worked with fennel at all. But ya gotta start somewhere.

Ingredients

2 TBS. butter

2 TBS. olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

2 large cloves garlic grated

1/3 cup chopped fennel bulb

1 medium zucchini thick sliced

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 tsp. dried basil

1/4 cup parsley chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp. salt

1/8 to 1/4 tsp. pepper

grated Parmesan cheese

In a saute pan melt butter with the oil. Add onion and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and fennel and cook another 5 minutes.

Add zucchini and cook and stir until slightly tender. Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Reduce heat and cover. Cook for 3-5 minutes until tomatoes are tender, but don't let the skins burst. When serving top with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Notes:This really did have a tremendous amount of flavor. I think the next time I make it I will try more fennel. Since it was a new ingredient I decided to go light, but think it could definitely use a little bumping up. But other than that, it was delish and so easy. So, Enjoy!