Butternut Squash and Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie

I have not been seasonal in my postings.  Butternut squash has been a theme these past weeks, and let’s be honest it just screams fall.  Here is a very tasty take on chicken pot pie incorporating butternut squash, mushrooms, gravy, biscuits, and bacon.  Do I need to say more?  –ts

1 1/2 cups cubed butternut squash
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth (preferably homemade)
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. olive oil
6 slices center-cut bacon
3 portabella mushroom caps, cleaned and diced (about 3 cups)
8 oz. crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 cup diced onions
2 lb. chicken breasts and thighs, diced
salt to taste
buttermilk biscuits (make your own if you can, but I can’t bake)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Place the butternut squash, milk, chicken broth and garlic in a small pot and set over medium-low heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in the smoked paprika and set aside.
2. While the squash cooks, set a large skillet over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the oil and the bacon and the onions. Saute until the bacon begins to crisp and the onions turn translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and cook through, about 10 more minutes. Then add the mushrooms and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
4. Grease a casserole dish. Place the contents of the skillet in the baking dish, then ladle the butternut squash puree evenly over the top. Halve the biscuits and place them in an even layer over the top.
5. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are cooked through and golden. Remove and let stand for 10 minutes before servings.

Bacon Jam

I mean I guess we do not have to stop the bacon train today.  After all it is Bacon Thursday.  This recipe may take a bit of patience but end result should be well worth it.  This is another recipe that I have yet to try but has also been in the my Nummy archives.  Bacon Thursday is an appropriate day to post it.  -ts

1 lb good-quality bacon
1 small onion, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup coffee, cola or beer
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

1. Roughly chop the bacon and cook it in a heavy pot; transfer to a bowl using a slotted spoon, draining off most of the drippings. Saute the onion and garlic cloves in the rest for 5 minutes, until soft and starting to turn golden.
2. Return the bacon to the pan, add the brown sugar, coffee and maple syrup and cook over medium heat for half an hour, or until deep golden and thickened to the consistency of jam.
3. If you like, cool and pulse in the food processor for a finer texture. Serve warm or cold. Keeps in a sealed container in the fridge for a week or two, if it lasts that long.

Portuguese Littlenecks

The Chef will be happy to know this shellfish recipe is not for mussels, but it is close; it’s for clams!  Sorry I felt like that needed an exclamation point for some reason.  Recently Chef John and I had a lovely trip to Newport, RI.  While there I must have stuffed my face for every meal with clam chowda and lobster rolls.  It was amazing.  However, you can really go to just about any small town in New England and get amazing clam chowder or lobster rolls.  Two dishes we had (both clams of course) stood out as very Newport, very amazing and will always remind me of this trip, Portuguese Littlenecks and Clams Casino.  I had never had either before going to Newport and now I can’t get enough!  Below is a great recipe for Portuguese Littlenecks.  –ts

3 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces dry-cured chorizo, cut into 1/4-inch coins
One 1/4-inch-thick slice prosciutto cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 medium yellow onions, cut lengthwise in half and sliced into thin half-moons
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, minced
One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained and chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
4 pounds littlenecks or any small clams, such as cockles, manila, or butter scrubbed and rinsed
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Bread for serving

1. Heat the oil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add chorizo and prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until touched with brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Lower the heat to medium; drop in the onions and bay leaf, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the tomatoes and any accumulated juice, the wine, and paprika. Discard any clams that feel heavy (which means they’re full of sand), have broken shells, or don’t close when tapped. Add clams into the pot and turn the heat to high. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally until the clams pop open, 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Discard the bay leaf and toss out any clams that refuse to pop open. Season with a few grinds of pepper, shower with parsley, and ladle the stew into wide shallow bowls. Oh, and have a big bowl on hand for the shells.  Serve immediately with a large piece of bread to soak up juices.

Barrett’s Red Onion Marmalade

This is the caramelized alternative to The Chef’s Ridiculously Perfect Pickled Red Onions, and if they are any indication, you should make a batch and top everything with them immediately.These are great on roasted meat, steak sandwiches, burgers, pizza, brats and even scrambled eggs.

My personal favorite way to serve these is over cream cheese with crackers. Not because of my well-documented cream cheese fixation, but because of the time Katers brought over a bottle of Worcestershire to top cream cheese with when Susu had actually told her to get PickaPeppa. It’s not quite up to the level of the Chicken Parmesan debacle, but it makes me smile nonetheless.

4 red onions, sliced very thin
1/3 cup of honey
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1. Saute onions in oil over medium low heat.  Add a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook onions for about 1 hour, or until caramelized.
2. Add honey and balsamic vinegar.  Store in a air tight container in fridge for up to 1 month.

Braised Veggies ~ German Style

I think Germany was my favorite part of Epcot. Since I’ve been there, I clearly have a full understanding of German food. It’s all brats and beer, right?

As it turns out, The Chef says they have veggies in Germany too. And these braised ones would definitely be a great side dish… for the brats I assume they eat at every meal.

1 ounce of butter
1/4 cup of yellow onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup celery, cut into 3 inch pieces
1/4 cup carrot, small diced
1/4 cup cabbage, large diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 ounce of honey
5 ounces of German beer
salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter in a pot.
2. Add all of the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over low to medium heat until well softened.
3. Add honey and beer and simmer until tender. Be sure not to over cook because they will get mushy.

Dot’s Steak & Onions with Soy-Coffee Sauce

This is yet another sauce I used to sip like coffee which, incidentally, the sauce includes. Dot was always good at dinner-making, but this was one of my all-time faves.

The soy-coffee-worcestershire combo is as tasty as it is surprising. Serve this up with Barrett’s Best Mashed Potatoes – the goat cheese version sounds like a good match to me – and you’ve got a perfectly updated version of an American classic.

3-5 pound sirloin (you can also use flank or filet)
tenderizer
1 cup strong coffee
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp vinegar
1 large onion, chopped

1. Mix all ingredients except sirloin and tenderizer.
2. Apply tenderizer to the steak and pour mixture over steak.
3. Marinate, turning every few hours at room temperature up to 4 hours (or marinate in fridge up to 24 hours).
4. Grill steak until medium-rare. (You can also bake, pan-sear, or broil the steaks if you prefer.)
5. While steak rests bring marinade and onions to a boil.
6. Slice steak and top with onion sauce. Reserve some for drinking if you are a non-recovering salt addict like myself.

Barrett’s Best Mashed Potatoes – Wasabi, Rosemary, Goat Cheese & More

The Chef likes to experiment… wait, that sounds wrong. What I mean to say is that he doesn’t like to cook the same thing twice. Unfortunately he is SOL when it comes to these taters because they are the bomb. (I’m sorry. That term is stupid and incredibly 1998, but it felt right, so I went with it.)

As Alton Brown would say on the hilariously hosted Iron Chef America, “the chef is here to offer his most succulent variations,” and so it is with Nummy. Here The Chef provides both the basics and some extra jazz for when you’re feeling frisky. My personal favorite is the horseradish, but I can lick a bowl clean no matter what kind is on the menu.

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
6 Idaho potatoes, peeled
2 cup of half and half
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter
4 tablespoons of wasabi paste*
salt to taste

1. Cut potatoes in half and place them in a pot of well-salted water.  Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are easily pierced with a knife.
2. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot.
3. In a saucepan, heat butter, half and half, and salt until the butter melts.  Pour over potatoes and mash together.
4. Gently fold in the wasabi paste*. Season with salt.

*To make the other versions, simply substitute the items below for the wasabi. You’ll want to add them a little at a time until you’ve found the perfect amount for your taste. You can also use unpeeled red potatoes for these recipes for added texture and color.

Rosemary garlic mashed red potatoes

• Rosemary and garlic
• Lemon and thyme
• Goat cheese and chives
• Blue cheese
• Pesto (1 tablespoon)
• Dijon mustard
• Truffle oil
• Roasted garlic
• Horseradish and parmesan
• Cooked crawfish tails
• Fresh dill and sour cream
• Caramelized onions
• Green onions, parsley and capers

Ridiculously Perfect Pickled Red Onions

I hate red onions. I love pickled things. By all accounts, this dish should break even at best. It does SO much more. These were without a doubt the highlight of The Chef’s birthday meal (and, of course, one of the parts he prepared himself).

They have the perfect crisp, salty, spicy bite, and I have no doubt they’re fantastic on everything. Barrett likes to use them on tacos, sandwiches, burgers or anything braised. I like to eat them straight.

2 red onions sliced very thin
12 oz of red wine vinegar
couple squirts of honey
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper.
2. Once warm, pour over sliced red onions.
3. Cool and refrigerate until ready to use.

I think these are even better a few days later, so keep your hands off for a while. If you can.

Romesco Sauce

This is The Chef’s personal favorite and is, I’m told, “good on anything.” And due to his enthusiasm he best be about the biznis of making me this sometime in the near future.

2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded
2 dried ancho chilies, softened in hot water, drained, stemmed and seeded
2 plum tomatoes, roasted until slightly blackened
2 red onions, roasted and peeled
6 tablespoons of hazelnuts, ( really any nut will work, pine nuts, walnuts, etc.) toasted
1 slice of toasted white bread
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 bulb garlic, roasted
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a food processor, add everything except oil and garlic. Pulse to a coarse puree.
2. Cut off the top of the roasted garlic and squeeze the pulp into the mixture in the food processor. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream until the mixture forms a chunky paste. If it comes out too thick, add a little water. Season with salt and pepper.