Butternut Squash Soup

2 potatoes
1/2 butternut squash
1 white onion
1/2c half and half
1c chicken stock
s/p, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2tsp cinnamon, pinch nutmeg, oregano
garlic

Boil potatoes and butternut squash for 20min til soft.  Mash.  Sautee diced onion and garlic til soft, mash up.  Mix together, slowly add cream and stock.  Add seasoning.  Keep over low heat, stir, do not let boil.  I typically don't like butternut squash soup because I find it too sweet.  The onion flavor masked the butternut squash soup ( reminded me a bit of a potato/leek) and I thought it was pretty darned tasty!

Roasted Peppers

take off skin of roasted peppers

slice.  Make a vinaigrette.  And there ya go'

Curried Veggies

Blended roasted peppers
garlic
onion
mixed vegetables
curry, cumin, pepper, oregano
tomatoes, touch of tomato sauce
chicken broth

Stuffed Zucchini

2 zucchini
1lb ground beef
onion
crushed tomatoes
oregano, thyme
breadcrumbs
garlic, s/p

Half and hollow out zucchini.  Place empty halves in deep baking dish.  Sautee garlic, onion, beef, seasoning in a pan.  Add crushed tomatoes and breadcrumbs.  Once cooked down, fill zucchini halves.  Top with some parmesan and bake at 400F for 20min~

Gougeres (cheesy pooof)

2 eggs
80g flour
40g butter
1/8 l water
50g swiss

Mix water and butter over a low heat in a pot.  Add flour and continue to whip.  Then the eggs and then the cheese.  I used a hand mixer at this point.  Dough should hold together well and be quite thick.  I used two tablespoons to shape small portions on a baking sheet.  Leave some room between each.  Bake around 375-400F for 15-20min.

Vol-au-vent aux fruits de mer

frozen seafood mix (scallops, rock shrimp, shrimp, calamari, mussels, clams)
clams
clam sauce
white wine
butter
olive oil
onion
garlic
parsley, s/p
frozen pack of puff pastry
flour
milk
lemon

Start with onion, garlic, olive oil, s/p, butter.  Then add seafood, seasoning.  Then add clam sauce, lemon, and white wine.  Once seafood is cooked, use food processor to chop down. (I didn't have one so I chopped it down by hand with a nice knife) and then added it back to the simmering sauce.  Cook puff pastry.  Finish it off by adding some flour and milk to thicken the filling.  Serve immediately.

Roasted Peppers (part 1)

A quick roast on the BBQ with some small sweet peppers and a few bell peppers(not in picture).  Drizzled olive oil and s/p while on the grill.  After they are nice and charred, let them cool and place in fridge.

Come back to them later and take off the skin and all of the burnt char.  Can be done by hand.

I then sliced them with the intention of making some classic italian roasted peppers.

I took half of them a few days later and pureed the peppers into a curry dish.  I will put that recipe up next..

Caramelized Acorn and Delicata Squash

 1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup honey (lavender honey from french alps)
pinch of salt

Slice squash into 1in~ slices.  Lay them on a baking sheet.  Melt spice mixture in microwave real quick.  Brush the squash.  Bake in oven at 350 for 30min~

Served along with Thanksgiving dinner.