Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup
The holidays have run away with my schedule. I finally got to making this on Friday, though, which has been on my list for a while. I found the recipe over at Tartelette. She mostly posts about sweet things (no surprise here), but occasionally has some tasty savory recipes as well.
I didn’t have any fresh thyme, so I did mine with dry. Unfortunately I think that I overdid it. I guess measured in my hand, and since dry also packs so much tighter than fresh, I think that the thyme was over done. But it was still a tasty and savory soup, and the recipe is below, courtesy of Tartelette.
Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes (seeds scooped out & saved)
1 small acorn squash, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves or garlic, peeled and smashed (don’t worry about mincing)
4 cups chicken stock (I did mine with low sodium veggie stock)
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or less if desired. You can also use some sage)
water
salt and pepper
In a stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the cubed squashes and sautee for a few minutes until they start to get some caramelizing color. Add the garlic and sautee one minute, stirring often to prevent it from burning (or it will become bitter). Add the soup stock and thyme and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, covered for about 30 minutes or until the squash is tender. With an immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot until smooth. If using a food processor or blender, let the soup cool a bit before processing. Adjust the consistency to your liking with extra water. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish as desired.
This serves four, with some bread as accompaniment (M brought over a loaf of his 5 minute a day bread). I made my soup in the blender, rather than with an immersion mixer, which worked just fine. She also lists some possible garnishes, toasted squash seeds, hot peppers, or (for those of a meatier persuasion than I) bacon. I could see it being fun to play around with that, especially in a version that wasn’t over herbed.
Hope you all are enjoying some good soups with the winter weather.
Snacking Away
It has hit that part of the afternoon where one inevitably is a bit munchy. I recently was introduced to a happy vegan snack at a friend’s house, and enjoyed it so much I went and bought all the stuff for it, though I don’t normally keep coconut or almond butter around. You take an apple and slice it up, then put a layer of almond butter over the slice and sprinkle some dried coconut shavings over top. It is quite tasty. I have made the cheater’s version here at work, which consists of a pile of almond butter, a pile of coconut, slices of apple, and repeated dipping. It turns a very light snack (an apple) into something quite substantial that I expect may manage to hold me until I finish cooking dinner tonight.
Chennai Masala
After wine tasting at Renaissance we had the usual debate about dinner locations and decided on Chennai Masala as M’s sisters had not been there. It is my favorite Indian food restaurant in Portland. There are many tasty places to eat Indian food, but Chennai Masala specializes in South Indian fare.
I lived in South India for six months, residing in Pune for most of that time. Pune is roughly four hours east of Mumbai (Bombay). It is an important center for both the software and automobile industries and is also well known for its educational institutions. The food is amazing. When I get home sick for Indian food it is the food of Pune, both what you find in restaurants and the food that my aai, my Indian host mother, would cook for me at home. After school each day my fellow students and I would pile into rickshaws or walk down the street to one of the cafes to feast on South Indian snacks and fresh lime sodas to tide us over until the supper hour, which was more at the European hour, say nine o’clock at night.
Chennai Masala specializes in South Indian food and has a substantial menu of South Indian snacks, hard to find most places that I have been in the US. Dosa, idli, uttapam, sambhar…. Just thinking about them gets me salivating.
We ordered the spinach dosa to share, and then each ordered something on our own. If you have never had dosa before, it is fun food. A giant thin crepe is loosely rolled around a filling or folded over in half over it. The flour is a combination of rice and lentil and has its own particular flavor, being a little earthy and nutty once fried. You can get a variety of fillings put in them and they usually come with a number of accompaniments for dipping. Our came with a spicy spinach filling and had sambhar, and two chutneys on the side.
I don’t recall what everyone else got, but I ordered aloo gobi (an indian curry with cauliflower and potatoes) for my entree, which was quite tasty. Our meals were served with naan. I am more partial to chappati for eating with, though I certainly enjoy eating naan, especially if it is garlicy and has butter.
I highly recommend that you go and check out Chennai Masala, located in Hillsboro. They were even written up in the Willamette Week restaurant ratings. All of their food is great, but go and try the South Indian snacks. They are stellar and will get you wishing you could travel to Pune to eat in the cafes.
Wine Weekend – part one
Two weekends back, before the craziness of Thanksgiving took over my life, there was a weekend involving lots of wine tasting.
I met M and his two sisters at Renaissance Wine Shop (located at Orenco Station in Hillsboro) for a tasting of wines imported by Small Vineyards. We all had a great time, for which I am very thankful. I like them both very much and was a bit concerned things might be awkward after relationship situations changed. I got met with hugs and giggles and support.
Small Vineyards comes to Renaissance a couple of times a year and I always try to catch their tastings. They import small production wines from Italy (sometimes the wines are produced in lots as small as 100 or 200 cases) and often they have some very interesting and delightful wine at reasonable prices.
We tasted:
Tenuta Ponte, Coda di Volpe 2008, 100% Coda di Volpe (800 cases produced, a white which I failed to take tasting notes on, and didn’t end up buying a bottle [$17])
Fattoria Bibbiani, Treggiaia 2006, 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cab and Canaiolo (1200 cases produced, a slight raspberry nose, earthy currant flavors with medium tannins [$11])
Podere Ciona, Montegrossoli 2007, 95% Sangiovese, 5% Alicante Bouschet (290 cases produced, raspberry and strawberry on both smell and taste, light tannins [$17])
Antonion Sanguineti, Caruso 2007, 15% Corvina, 5% Rondinella, 20% Nero d’Avola, 50% Sangiovese, 10% Syrah (500 cases produced, this unusual wine has grapes from the vineyards of several friends of the wine maker. Raspberry and cherry are found in the nose, to which a lemony note is added, high in the mouth, when tasted. Light to medium tannins. [$20])
Tre Donne, d’Arc Langhe Rosso 2006, 40% Barbera, 30% Pinot Noir, 20% Dolcetto, 10% Freisa (400 cases produced, my favorite wine of the evening. I had never had freisa grapes. They lend a lovely floral nature to the wine. Slightly floral strawberry nose, floral, peach, pear, almond, clove, and rosehips or hibiscus once tasted. I tried to buy some of this, but they ran out of it about an hour into the tasting. [$17])
Eugenio Bocchino, Tom Langhe Rosso 2007, 70% Barbera, 30% Merlot (200 cases produced, velvety nose with temple flower notes, flavors of raisin and plum with a full mouth feel and medium tannins. I bought a bottle of this, since the Tre Donne was not available. [$22])
Perazzeta, Rita Riserva, 100% Sangiovese (250 cases produced, smells like cherry cream soda, flavors of cherry, apple, mango [$34])
Koi Fusion
I got an email today telling me that the Koi Fusion taco truck would be visiting my work again today over the lunch hour. Koi Fusion is apparently patterned off of a similar taco truck found down in the L. A. area. Last time they were here, I didn’t make it out there to try anything.
Today I headed out to the parking lot shortly after they arrived. Mostly they serve meat items, but there is a spicy tofu option. I ordered a spicy tofu taco. It came with sauced tofu, bean sprouts, cilantro, thin slices of cucumber, kimchi, and a piece of lime on a small corn tortilla. I put a dab of each of their hot sauces on the side and took my food in to my desk.
I squeezed the lime on, took a tiny taste of each hotsauce, then took a bite. It was tasty, but didn’t have any where near the punch that I was expecting. The couple of bites with hotsauce were quite good though. It think that it was just lacking the heat punch and extra flavor they added. That spicy bite left me licking my lips and looking for more.
I just got a text from M, saying he was headed over to try it out. So I will have a round two, and layer on the hotsauce.
Du Kuh Bee
M suggested that we check out this Korean restaurant last night. I was excited to see that it was located in Beaverton, close to places that I go fairly frequently on errands. I have passed that corner numerous times and never been in. Beaverton does have some good places to eat, but Portland has a far higher concentration of interesting and innovative restaurants, so I am always excited to find new places a little closer to home.
Du Kuh Bee was written up in the Willamette Week Restaurant Guide 2009. Oddly enough, their description of its location could fit the restaurant next door, which is also Korean and in close proximity to a hair salon. They are mid way down the building to the east of Watson on 1st. Their signage is minimal compared to the large windows of the other restaurant.
We were initially seated by the door, but a couple minutes later the people at the bar left, and we were able to move up where we could watch the kitchen.
The atmosphere is unassuming. It is a long, narrow space. There is seating for roughly 20. A TV was playing the news in the background. Sitting at the bar you get to see their ingredients spread out in front of you, onions, cabbage, and such, in numerous containers of mostly humble origin (at one point I saw him take sliced green onions out of a blue lidded ziplock container). A small fridge off to the left appeared to hold their fish and meats.
We ended up ordering the two dishes that were recommended in the Willamette Week, the squid pasta and the bok choy. They brought us plates and chopsticks, and two little bowls of appetizer while we waited for our food. One was a kimchi, while the other was a slightly pickled or vinegared daikon radish. Both were tasty, but I was especially partial to the daikon.
Sitting at the bar we got to watch them prepare the food. It was fun to watch them make everything, though watching them prepare the noodles was the best part. Long, blocks of dough were taken out of the fridge and 3/4″ square lengths were cut off of the dough. The chef then stretched them and pulled them repeatedly, slapping the strands of noodle hard against the counter top, before tossing them into a pot of boiling water.
Their compact kitchen manages to cram in a grill, stove, prep, and storage space. A giant stockpot of water appeared to be kept at a fairly constant boil, briefly becoming home to both noodles and seafood. A large portion of the food was prepared in a wok on the stove. We also watched them grill up numerous things and at one point something they were doing on the grill sent up a large fragrant cloud of steam.
Our noodle dish arrived first. It was a lovely red-orange color and had bits of onion, cabbage, and pepper along with the noodles and squid. The squid blended itself well with the noodles, many of which were of a similar size. It was pleasantly spicy, without being terribly hot. The flavors were tantalizingly on the verge of familiar. I kept thinking that I ought to be able to identify things, but it was also uniquely its own thing. I love asian food and eat a fair bit of Thai, Chinese, and Indian. It was really nice to be introduced to some new cuisine.
The bok choy was also lovely and different in flavor from the noodle dish. It was somewhat akin to the ways you might see bok choy prepared at a Chinese restaurant, coming with a liquid, light brown sauce which perhaps owed some of its flavor to soy sauce. But it was also slightly sweet and had a lovely smokey flavor.
They do have some veggie dishes on the menu, but it looks to me like this isn’t the friendliest place for a strict vegetarian. Luckily, I also encompass fish and seafood in my diet, which allows me to mark this restaurant some place I must return to.
Our meal was very reasonably priced (we got out of there for $26 including tip), and generously portioned. We ended up with a meal for one from the leftovers. I also hear tell that they are open fairly late, even on weeknights, which is rare for this part of town. We’ll definitely be going back and hopefully dragging a few friends along.
Cubicle Foraging – Spinach, part 2
Well, I got half a block from work on Thursday when I realized that I had left the spinach in the fridge at the office. I dithered a few moments, then decided to walk back to work to get it. I was actually excited to make something out of it and nothing else in my fridge at home was really calling to me. I ended up making sautéed garlic spinach along side jasmine rice and a lovely french cheese. I love the sweetness that you can get from garlic if it is sautéed but not browned. The jasmine rice with a bit of butter and salt was aromatic. The port salud cheese was a little reminiscent of Muenster. It was on the softer side, rich, and salty.
Sautéed Spinach with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Butter
large bag of small spinach (perhaps roughly a pound)
6 – 8 medium cloves garlic
2 – 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 – 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
Peel the garlic and chop it up into medium pieces. Rinse the spinach and discard any pieces that seem excessively wilted or slimy.
Put a large saute pan, with available lid, on the stove with medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Let the oil heat a couple minutes, then stir in the garlic and butter. Let it saute for 3 – 5 minutes. You want to soften the garlic, but do not want to brown it. After letting the garlic saute in the oil and butter for several minutes, add the spinach and turn the heat up to medium. Stir and cover. Let the spinach cook, stirring every few minutes until all the spinach has wilted. Salt and pepper to taste either at the stove or at the table.
Note: If you notice that your garlic is starting to darken, quickly toss in your spinach and mix, the cover. This will help prevent the flavor from shifting farther away from the sweet end.
Cubicle Foraging – Spinach
Well, here is my inspiration to start cooking again this evening. I got a bag of fresh spinach from work that needs to get eaten tonight. I don’t think it will last the weekend until I am back from out of town.
Sauteed spinach with garlic sounds pretty tasty, perhaps some jasmine rice, and some sort of protein thrown in.
I think the fact that food is starting to sound interesting again is a good sign.
A Lack of Cooking
Well, of all the unusual things, I haven’t been cooking lately. Some personal stuff came up and completely knocked everything else out of the running for ability to focus or do much of anything else for that matter. I don’t believe that I have cooked anything but popcorn for the last week. That isn’t to say that I haven’t been eating. I don’t generally count heating leftovers as cooking and I have had take-out and a few random restaurants thrown in. There’s been tea, cereal, and other such things lacking preparation.
I am hoping to get back to it a little bit tonight, and this weekend I am heading out to Sun River with friends and likely there will be some fun cooking there, though I have no idea what sort of kitchen we will have at the house there.
