Cupcake Squash with Marigold Rice

So, to Brownie's credit, this was part of his cooking challenge the other night.  He created a beautiful steak dish, but he also created this side dish that my vegetarian heart fell in love with!  So I'm sharing the recipe with you!

I had never heard of a cupcake squash until my mom grew one in her garden and gave us one to experiment with.  I'm pretty glad she did!

A few notes:  Yes, that is in fact string cheese on top of our beautiful squash!  hahaha  It was part of the challenge and it actually wasn't half bad!  So if all you have in the refrigerator is string cheese ... go for it.  Tried and true. When I asked Brownie what he would have RATHER used, he said white cheddar, so that's what our recipe calls for.

You might be thinking ... marigold blooms?  Like, flowers?  Yes!  They're edible.  They are also an inexpensive substitute for saffron in recipes ... FYI.  So use them and be amazed!

And Yes, the shell is edible too!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cupcake Squash
• 2-3 Ripe Figs
• Raw Almonds
• Fresh Garlic Cloves
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• 5 Marigold Blooms
• 1 Cup Rice
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• White Cheddar Cheese (or whatever your preference)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cut a few slices off the top of the cupcake squash and set aside.
• Scoop out inside of squash, discard seeds, chop remaining flesh and set aside in a small bowl
• Dice 2-3 figs and add to bowl with chopped squash
• Chop 3 -4 raw almonds add to bowl with figs
• Mince 1-2 garlic cloves and add to your bowl
• Add a pinch of salt and a couple grinds of fresh ground pepper
• Add 1 1/4 cups water to pan, chop the petals of 4 or 5 fresh marigolds, add to water, bring to a boil, 
• Add rice, put lid on, simmer for 15 minutes or so - until rice is done
• While rice is cooking, rub hollowed squash inside and out with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder
• Place hollowed squash in a baking dish and bake at 350 until flesh is soft - about 10 minutes
• While the hollowed squash is baking, Sautee your ingredients in the bowl over medium heat with olive until combined and heated - maybe 3 minutes
• Remove squash from oven, set aside
• Scoop rice into sautéed mixture and mix together until the amounts are to your liking, adjust salt and pepper to taste
• Spoon rice mixture into hollowed cupcake squash
• Top with cheese and put under the broiler until cheese is melted and browned
• Optional: boil water and blanch extra slices of squash before plating, garnish with fresh marigold flowers, chopped fresh chives and more chopped almonds

This recipe is for one cupcake squash - if you're cooking for two, you'll have to double the recipe. You'll probably have some of the rice leftover ... and that isn't a bad thing - am I right!?  ;-)  But honestly,  1 1/2 cups of rice would make two of these no problem.  

Grilled Steak w/Bleu Cheese Figs

I love to give Brownie cooking challenges!  No, I'm sadistic; I love to watch him create!  Giving him ingredients that seemingly don't go together traditionally and watching what he comes up with ... it's a fascinating process, let me tell you.

He's been wanting to utilize figs since they're in season, so on my way home last night, I bought some gorgeous grass-fed beef steaks and got him some figs!

Yes, it was just as delicious as it looks!!!!  You have to try this one while figs are in season!!!!

When Brownie does cooking challenges, the end result is always a surprise for me, so I didn't get to watch him cook.  When I was finally presented with the final product and took my first bite ... I would have sworn he put chocolate in that sauce!  It was so good!

A few tips:  Figs are best when they feel mushy and 'overripe.'  They are also incredibly sweet on their own - in this recipe, you're adding honey to an already sweet fruit.  Our suggestion is not to be shy with the bleu cheese or the rosemary - both help cut that sweetness!

So if you're feeling ambitious, here's your recipe:

Ingredients:

• 9 or 10 Ripe Figs
• 2 Top Loin New York Strip Steaks (we bought McK Ranch grass-fed steaks that we find at our local Co-op.
• Garlic Powder
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• Truffle Salt (we find this at Market of Choice up near the cheese section - the sample sizes are amazingly inexpensive and fun to play with)
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• Fresh Rosemary Sprigs (we just snip a few from the garden)
• Raw Honey
• 1 Vanilla Bean (our Co-op has these fresh in bulk)
• 1 Bottle Pinot Noir (more about the wine we used later)
• Bleu Cheese crumbles

Directions:

Always drink wine while cooking!

• Marinate steaks w/garlic powder, truffle salt, fresh ground black pepper, EVOO and fresh rosemary sprigs - set aside while they come up to room temperature
• Half 4 of your figs and scoop out the insides into a saucepan with 1 Tablespoon EVOO
• Start reducing over medium heat
• Add 2 tablespoons raw honey, insides of 1 vanilla bean, 1/2 cup pinot noir and 1 rosemary sprig
• Reduce to desired thickness of sauce - remove rosemary sprig
• Half 5 figs and place in baking pan (a pie plate will work)
• Sprinkle figs with bleu cheese crumbles and put in the oven at 375 Degrees until cheese is melted
• Grill steaks to medium rare and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing
• Plate your sliced steak and bleu cheese figs, drizzle sauce over the top
• Optional - garnish with fresh rosemary and fresh bleu cheese crumbles

Now the wine.  Pino Noir is Brownie's wine of choice, and I grabbed a bottle of Fractal Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir on my way out of the store.  In hindsight ... I should have considered the flavors Brownie would be cooking with while I chose the wine.  Whoops!  I'm not the wine palate in this house.

This wine IS delicious, but it didn't pair well with the figs, which was the main flavor in this plate.  Remember that figs are actually an inverted flower! So a wine with less berry flavors and more of a flowery essence would have been a better choice.  Maybe even a white wine?

We still drank the bottle! hahaha  But it wasn't a stellar pairing with our food.  Just a head's up!

Try this recipe at home and share with us!!!!

Grilled Rainbows w/Zucchini Tempura

After today's fishing adventure we had two very nice, big trout we wanted to cook for dinner. Hey, we earned it!  So when we got home, I got to cleaning fish while Brownie started cooking. It's a trade-off.

He started gathering ingredients in the garden and before I knew it, delicious smells were filling the house!

What I love most about this recipe is that all of the elements work well together and there are just enough things to play with and combine without being too hectic.  The simple, natural taste of trout with lemon and dill is just delicious; nothing overpowers the essence of the meat.  My favorite discovery was a big bite of trout with a nasturtium flower - they were beautiful together!  Every bite I created had fun flavors that worked well together - and it was so gorgeous!

Double satisfaction that the majority of our ingredients came out of our garden :-)

I will do my best to create a recipe here from Brownie's creation here:



Ingredients:

• Sea Salt
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper
• Peanut Oil
• Green Beans
• Pancetta
• Onion
• 1 medium yellow zucchini, halved and sliced longways
• Radish
• 1 Garden Salsa Chile
• 1 Lemon
• Fresh Dill
• Eggs
• Riced Cauliflower 
• Fresh Nasturtium Leaves and Flowers
• Panko
• 2 large Rainbow Trout

Directions:

• Chop a handful of nasturtium leaves and slice your radish and chile pepper for quick garnishing later


• Slice Lemon - stuff each trout with lemon slices and fresh dill, rub down outside of fish with sea salt
• Start boiling water in two pans - one to steam green beans and the other to blanch your riced cauliflower
• Chop pancetta (or buy previously chopped) and onion
• Heat a little olive oil and start to caramelize onions (you'll want them sweet, trust me).  When onions are close, add pancetta and toss until mixed and turn down to low
• Heat up your grill and get it ready for the fish
• Add green beans to pot for steaming and sprinkle lightly with salt
• Add a couple handfuls of riced cauliflower to the other pan of boiling water and stir for just a few minutes before straining and setting aside.  If you want a drier texture, sprinkle them out on a paper towel while you cook the fish.
• Make an egg wash for the zucchini - whisk eggs with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
• Put Panko in a bowl next to your egg wash
• Turn off burner to green beans, but leave them in the pot
• Turn off burner to pancetta and onions but leave them in the pan
• Put the trout on the grill and cook until the meat flakes and the skin is browned (6 minutes or so on each side depending on the size of your fish)
• Put the grilled fish in the oven to stay warm (don't turn ON the oven)
• Heat your peanut oil until a drop of water sizzles - ready for frying!
• Egg wash each piece of zucchini and roll it in the panko until it is covered
• Put crusted zucchini into the peanut oil and let it fry until golden brown
• Set finished zucchini on a paper towel to drain
• Toss green beans with pancetta and onion and heat just a bit to mingle flavors
• Lay down a layer of pancetta and green beans, lay trout over green beans and sprinkle with chopped nasturtium leaves and riced cauliflower, set pieces of zucchini around plate, then garnish with your radish, chile pepper and nasturtium flowers. 

Let us know how yours turned out!  We loooooved ours!!!!

Fishing Carmen Reservoir

We've been experimenting with bank fishing this summer and not having much luck at all.  I was raised on boats, so this is a whole knew technique for me.  

Today we decided to try Carmen Reservoir here in Oregon.  It's located up the McKenzie on Hwy 126 between Trailbridge and Clear Lake.  I had never fished there before, so we had no idea what to expect.  We just bought some worms and hoped for the best!

We started in the least likely spot where it's shallow (and close to the bathroom) and after about an hour my intuition told me it was a waste of time and we moved.

Next, we tried fishing under the bridge where the river flows in and letting our bait drift the current into the lake and waited....nothing.  I also lost our last swivel here when I got hooked on the rocks.  We pondered driving back to the small store down the road and getting more but just opted to tie on to our rigs and keep fishing.  It was a hot sunny day, so logically, we wanted to go deeper and lure those lil' guys out of the vegetation.  

Finally, we walked clear to the other end of the lake by the dam and found a little rocky beach to make day camp :-)  THIS, my friends, is where the fish bite!  In 2 or 3 hours, we caught our limit and were headed home!

I know we fisherpeople always ask one another what we used as far as bait.  I am a firm believer in worms.  Worms, worms, worms.  Worms with a bobber, worms with a weight ... worms.  Though I personally detest bobbers.

Today we caught our beauties with worms and krill oil, a weight about 24" above the hook.  We just cast toward the dam and out and let the current carry our line out into the lake, natural-like.  This was perfect for me - it was like bank trolling!  My specialty!  Once we had that down - we just started reeling 'em in!  It was a lot of fun and we got to cook our biggest two trout for dinner!  You can read about that here.  

We always (since I was kid) have cleaned and frozen our fish in ziploc bags, staggered as you see here and fill the bag oh ... 3/4 full of water and seal it.  Then lay it flat in the freezer.  When you freeze them IN water and then thaw them - they still taste fresh, I swear!

We'll share more about our fishing here, since it's one of the staples we keep in the freezer for our winter cooking and recipes ... but we're still learning all about the banks along our favorite places.  It's a new experience for sure!  Stay tuned!

Keema Aloo

When it comes to food cravings, Indian is probably at the top of my list, dead tie with Mexican food. I have yet to master my favorites, aside from my Indian Chicken. But tonight, I tried Keema Aloo (pictured to the right of the rice in the bowl)and was informed by Brownie that he likes it even MORE than my chicken! I'll get to the recipe, I promise.  But I do want to include the sides we used since...those I did not make myself, but they completed our meal so...

While at the grocery store, wondering what my hungry self wanted for dinner...I came across my favorite cans of Indian Delhi Saag. Pita bread dipped in this is heavenly. I know, canned!? Well, until I find a recipe that comes close to this...yes, these cans.

Same goes for my favorite Amy's soup! *gasp* in a can. I know I'm awesome with soups, but I just can't compete. I'll keep trying. Until then...these two Yummies will continue to accompany my Indian cooking adventures. It also makes things quicker in the kitchen!








So back to my Keema Aloo. I confess that most of the ingredients I used, we had on hand. Also - I use approximations. If you want more potatoes after eyeballing it - put in more. Make it your own!   Other alterations I made, I will note.

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• Minced garlic (at least 4 cloves fresh minced, 2 Tablespoons minced from a jar)
• 2 Tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 Serrano chili pepper, finely chopped (I used a small pepper out of the garden - not sure which one but it wasn’t terribly spicy)
• 2 Heaping Teaspoons dried cilantro (or 2 teaspoons fresh, chopped)
• 1 Tablespoon ground coriander (all I had were seeds,so I wrapped them in kitchen gauze and tied them with cooking string to make a little bundle)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (add more if you like while cooking and tasting)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons curry powder
• 1 14 oz can diced roasted tomatoes
• 1/2 can green pigeon peas (or 1 cup frozen peas, 1 cup chopped green beans...whatever your heart desires or whatever you have on hand)
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, diced potatoes

Directions:

• Chop onion, peel potatoes and chop - set aside on a plate
• Measure garlic, ginger, serrano chile, and cilantro and set aside in a small bowl - 1st set of spices
• Measure coriander, salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, and curry and set aside in a small bowl - 2nd set of spices
• Heat olive oil (I used probably 1/2 cup) and add chopped onion over medium-high heat until softened - 5 minutes or so (if you like your onion sweeter, cook them until they're browned - if any stick to the bottom, put a little water in the pan and stir to loosen the pieces)
• Add ground beef and 1st set of spices to pan and cook until beef is brown
• Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in 2nd set of spices - let cook for 5 minutes and let the flavors mingle
• Stir in tomatoes and potatoes, cover pot and let it simmer until the potatoes are soft (10 -15 minutes)
• Turn heat off and let stand for 5 minutes before serving

As you can see, I like my Indian food to mingle over rice and I plate it as such. But this would be a meal on its own over rice!

As always, if you try this out, we'd love to see your version and hear about what you tried!

Garden Veggies over Rice

Brownie likes to create beautiful food and play with flavors.  I tend to be more practical and rely on the foods I grew up eating.  I have a deep love for zucchini and this week, we had THREE zucchini ripen in the garden.  Two yellow and one green.  We also had two beautiful tomatoes ready to eat.  So tonight, I took over dinner duty.  

Now, when I cook, you can bet it's going to be something simple.  Every time my mother and I went to a potluck of any kind, my vegetarian mother would bring this dish with us and people would absolutely devour it.  It was one of the first things she taught me to cook as a teenager.  I still love it.

So in the spirit of sharing actual recipes, I will write down what I used and how I put this together.

Ingredients:

• 3 Medium Zucchini (or a mix of zucchini and yellow squash)
• 1 Large Scallion (Or onion, whatever is on hand)
• 3 Medium-to-large Tomatoes
• Basil (dried or fresh - either way)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Olive Oil
• Cooked Rice

Direcitons:

• I cook rice ahead of time and when my rice cooker beeps, I start the veggies and let the rice warm.
• Heat olive oil in a saute pan and begin cooking Scallion and freshly minced garlic - whatever your tastes are!  I use a LOT of garlic, we love the flavor.
• Chop Zucchini to desired size and put in the pan with garlic and scallion.
• Toss and add salt to taste
• Chop fresh basil and tomatoes while you're waiting for the zucchini to soften.
• Stir your zucchini or toss it in the pan every so often - don't neglect it or it will cook unevenly.
• If you're using dried basil, add it at this point so it has time to re-hydrate
• When they start to soften, I throw in the fresh basil and toss with veggies.
• When they're the texture you prefer, turn the heat off and stir in your chopped tomatoes so they can warm with everything else.  You don't want to COOK the tomatoes, just warm them.
• Scoop some rice into a bowl and add veggies on top!

You'll notice your veggies are a bit watery in the bottom of the pan - that juicy goodness is DIVINE scooped over your rice!  I love to eat this all stirred together in a big mashy mess - it's perfection!

This time around, I decided to use some of our freshly harvested Nasturtium leaves as well.  They have a peppery, radish-y flavor that I wanted to play with.  I didn't really use enough to flavor much, but when I got some in a bite, I could definitely tell they were there and they were a nice addition.  Not always available, but if you want to try them ... it does work with this recipe pretty well.

Enjoy the summer veggies while they last!  As usual, if you try this and put your own spin on it, we'd love to see what you come up with!  Come back and post pictures for us! :-)

Brook Trout over the Fire

Camping Eats Continued!

When we ventured out for the day on Saturday, we ended up fishing at Three Creeks Lake near Sisters, Oregon.  We bank-fished all afternoon (which we have decided we are just NOT good at) and came away with one 12" Brook Trout.  I will say I'm supremely proud of that catch :-)

Cleaning fish in camp isn't a big deal, but ... we didn't bring any flour; we hadn't planned on cooking fish in camp.  So we started rummaging through the grocery bags to see what we could find and brainstorm.

By this time, our Ramen Noodle adventure had come to a close, the kids had stayed up to see the amazing stars and two of the four were passed out in the tent.  Cleaning a fish in the dark - interesting times.  Photographing a fish cooking in the dark - even more fun! :-)  But obviously we made it work.

The closest thing we could find for a breading for Mr. Brook was Trader Joe's Gorgonzola Crackers.  So into a Ziploc bag we poured those babies and one of the kids got the satisfying job of crushing them into dust.  Fishy was shaken in the crumbs and onto the waiting grill pan he went!  No, we didn't season fishy any further than the crackers.  Mostly because ... fishy was cooking in the leftover bacon grease from that morning and we knew that would be enough!  So resourceful.



While fishy was frying over the fire, Brownie scooped up the leftover bell peppers from the kids and sauteed them with the rest of the onions and cilantro from the Jamexican Tacos (how many meals did we get out of that adventure!?) until they were soft.  Then, stirred in two chopped tomatoes from our garden to warm in the pan and ... on top went Mr. Brook Trout!  We just shared a plate, ate the meat and scooped up the veggies as we went ... it was delicious! Wild trout taste nothing like farmed trout, TRUST US!

Overall, we were definitely frugal with food on this trip and created some pretty yummy, if unconventional and strange, meals if you ask me!  And yes, we ended up coming home with quite a few groceries to spare!  We had a blast!

I wouldn't recommend staying in a campground with no water, though.  Luckily we were close to town where we could buy water because .... dirty fishy dishes ... must be washed! :-)