It’s amazing to me that I can deal so well with an abundance of squash considering that just three years ago I was convinced it was poison. I have an aversion to nightshades, I managed to get over it with squash, now I aspire to be able to eat eggplant. Back to abundance though, if you’re only feeding two, even a medium butternut squash can be enough for 2-4 different recipes.

I used half of one in this Butternut Squash Galette inspired by Julie’s sweet potato version. I’d been wanting to try Julie’s recipe for quite awhile, but I just recently finally bought myself a cast iron skillet. With the fontina cheese, this is a perfectly rich autumn dish.

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It had never occurred to me to make a mousse out of cheese until I read about this Parmesan Mousse with Pears in Red Wine Sauce that Ilva posted over at Lucullian Delights.

Ilva found the recipe in a magazine and reduced the proportion of mousse to fruit as the Parmesan flavor is so strong. I too found the Parmesan flavor to be quite strong and rich, so I have doubled the fruit and added some spicy pecans for a textural contrast in my version. This is a delicious unique dessert, perfect for anyone who finds the best dessert to be a nice wedge of cheese.

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A few weeks ago I made the Crisp Polenta Cake with Spicy Greens from Joyce Goldstein’s Antipasti. I was really disappointed with the results, the greens weren’t particularly delicious and the texture of the polenta was a bit difficult to swallow. The recipe is meant to serve 8-12 people (and I halved it), but the two of us finished off all the greens and had tons of the polenta cake leftover

The next day I dug around in the fridge and came up with some left over garlic scape pesto and a wedge of Parmesan. The oils from the pesto seeped into the top layer of the polenta, and the second baking made the polenta just that much crisper. Topped with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan, the leftovers were much easier to swallow.

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I’m always disappointed when French Onion Soup is on the menu at restaurants and I can’t have it because it’s made with beef broth, so whenever I see a unique variation on the recipe I save it. I have several soup versions to try, but these dumplings posted by Kerry over at Serious Eats caught my eye as I had a half packet of wonton wrappers that needed to be used up.

I made a vegetarian version of the recipe, using what ingredients I had on hand, and these dumplings were so rich and delicious, I made them again to finish off the wonton wrappers a few days later. I substituted Jack Daniels for the cognac the first time, and dark rum the second. Both substitutions worked well, creating a lovely rich broth.

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Quick tip - if a recipe calls for applesauce (not something I generally keep in my pantry), it’s fast and easy to make it from scratch.

To make one cup of applesauce simply peel and core two apples. Place in a pot with an inch of water covering the bottom. Cover the pot and heat on high. Once the water is at a strong boil, reduce the heat to medium high. When the apples are completely soft (approximately 20 minutes from start to finish I think, I wasn’t paying a ton of attention) drain them, reserving the water, and mash them using a ricer (I’m sure just mashing them with a fork or in a blender would have decent results as well). Add cinnamon and/or sugar if desired, use the reserved water to thin out the consistency if necessary - I did neither.

I used the applesauce to make these Facon, Apple & Cheddar Fritters, if you use a soy based facon they just happen to be gluten free.

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In a combined effort to continue getting through our pantry items in anticipation of our move this fall & to create an original recipe for entry in Culinarty’s Original Recipe Round Up, I created these Chard & Tepary Bean Empanadas.

Teparies are an heirloom bean varietal native to the southwestern United States and Mexico that are very similar to the pinto bean, in fact, my description of their flavor, is that they taste like pinto beans that have already had sugar and fat added to them, even though they have not. Tepary beans can be ordered from Rancho Gordo. There are two varieties of teparies, white and tan. The white teparies are a bit sweeter than the tan. I use a blend of the two.

Just to be thorough with my very first food blog event entry, this is also my entry to MLLA-13 conceived by Susan of the “Well-Seasoned Cook” and currently being hosted by Sunshinemom of “Tongue Ticklers”

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We’re moving in a few months so I am always cooking with an eye to using up our pantry items. Browsing through Herbivoracious, Michael Natkin’s gorgeous blog, I came across a couple of simple (but well paired) polenta dishes and I immediately thought of the three quarters full bag of polenta in my pantry. Keeping Michael’s suggestions of gorgonzola and aged balsamic, I substituted some brocollini that needed to be used up for the chard and added in some homemade rosemary basil oil. The result was a quick simple delicious meal that didn’t require a trip to the grocery store.

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I found this recipe for Gorgonzola, Wild Rice and Greens in the Vegetarian Times. While I’ve cooked with wild rice on various occasions, I’ve never really been that enamoured of it and generally end up tossing whatever recipe I bought it for and mixing the rest in with my brown rice blend. This recipe sounded so good though (what with the gorgonzola and all), that I decided to give it another try. Of course, I once again forgot that broccoli rabe & broccolini were different things until I got to the grocery store. I decided to go with it though since I’ve never seen broccolli rabe for sale, so here is my adaption with crisp broccolini instead of wilted broccoli rabe. I’m glad that I gave wild rice another chance, it works wonderfully in this dish (then again, it might just be the cheese).
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I have four recipe binders, two of new, untested recipes that are always being added to. While many of the new recipes I try are “keepers”, I hardly ever make them since there are so many new recipes to try! Not so with this chard dish that I’ve adapted from a recipe on epicurious. This versatile side is my go to dish for any entree that is just a little to plain on it’s own. This is also a great way to use up chard stems from dishes that only call for the leaves.

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One of the best, short lived, farmers market finds, garlic scapes are the flowering stem of the garlic plant & are removed to promote bulb growth. Garlic scapes can be used in place of scallions in almost any recipe, but I prefer to serve them steamed whole with shaved parmesan and toasted pine nuts in a sort of deconstructed pesto. No recipe required for this one, simply steam the scapes until tender allowing 4-6 per person.

Of course you can also make pesto with them, but I wait until the last batch of the season is beginning to go soft on me before doing that. I use this recipe from VeganYumYum and freeze most of it in an ice-cube tray for use throughout the year. The pesto ice-cubes are great for throwing together quick sauces like this one:

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