Nigella Kitchen Papardelle with Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese

Happy New Year!!!!

 I do plan on doing a real post sometime soon, or rather a post with some sort of writing.  But sometimes, usually right after the holidays and the back to work schedule, other things are calling out for attention when I get home at the end of the day.  There are some Christmas photos still to share though so works out perfectly.

But first, I wanted to share this recipe because it was delightful (imagine sing-song voice here). Usually, I'm not a huge pasta eater (or cooker).  I'm pretty convinced that our upbringing has a bit to do with what foods we cling to as adults.  Sure there are new foods that we grow to love as adults, or childhood foods we will NEVER voluntarily eat as adults (oh the childhood trauma of green bean casserole) but I've noticed that many have a preference for the "starch" they grew up with.  Guiseppe sits in Thailand eating pasta almost nightly, I have a midwestern friend who swears he needs potatoes daily, and some of us with asian blood, well, we need rice.  I'm pretty sure I've gone months without pasta--which is why this dish was a delightful (same sing-song voice again) pasta treat...butternut squash and sage is always delightful. It's so delightful, you could even leave off the blue cheese if you are not a fan.  That's four "delightfuls" in case you were wondering.

Technically I didn not have papardelle, but I did use a big fat substantial pasta so kind of the same idea. it was a perfect hearty pasta for the butternut squash "sauce."  And of course, a girl who throws spinach into Blueberry Bars is absolutely going to find a way to throw it into pasta.  It was a perfect addition, but for the record, Nigella's recipe did not call for spinach. Silly girl.

Nigella called for over a lb of pasta.  Since I'm more of a veggie girl I only used half a lb. The perfect thing about pasta recipes in general is that you can very often adjust the ratio of pasta to sauce to your preference.

Nigella notes that the sauce can be made 1 day ahead — simmer until the squash is tender, then transfer to a nonmetallic bowl to cool. Cover and refrigerate, then reheat gently in a saucepan and proceed as directed.

Pappardelle with Butternut Squash, Blue Cheese and Pine Nutsadapted from Nigella Kitchen by Nigella Lawson

1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons Marsala
1/2 cup water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried sage)
8-16 oz  pappardelle or other robust pasta based on preference
5 oz  soft blue cheese, crumbled

Fry the onion in the olive oil over a medium heat in a large, heavy-based pan that can accommodate all the pasta later. After about 10 minutes, add the paprika. Add the cubed butternut squash, then add the butter, stirring everything together well in the pan. Add the Marsala and water. Once the mixture starts to simmer, put the lid on, turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is tender but still holds its shape. Season to taste (keeping in mind that the cheese will be salty too), then sprinkle the sage into the squash mixture, reserving some to garnish.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Toast the pine nuts in a separate hot, dry pan, tip them into a bowl and set aside.
Before you drain the pasta, reserve a mugful of the cooking water. Add the drained pasta to the squash and slowly stir to combine. Add some of the pasta cooking water to help the sauce emulsify, then add the blue cheese and half the pine nuts. Gently combine, then sprinkle the remaining pine nuts and sage on top and serve.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Oh, I debated on this post for a bit.  I'm kind of over baking and sweets right now. Way over.  Christmas is the best and the baking is fun, but after awhile, you just kind of get tired of seeing baked goods everywhere yes?

But then I saw the picture...bright red cupcake and white glossy and creamy cream cheese frosting.  Well, it was worth a post. As is another of Nigella's recipes from Nigella Kitchen.

And while the red is very eye catching and I'm obviously a HUGE fan of the whole red and white pairing, I am a bit curious about our fascination with red velvet cake.  When I was buying the cake flour, a woman reached right into my cart and moved the items around to look at the box... "I thought it was red velvet cake mix and was going to run right back and grab some." Any cake that inspires complete strangers to fondle your groceries is a bit fascinating. (Turns out Nigella's recipe uses all-purpose flour btw).

So is it the flavor or the color that everyone loves so much?  If it's the color, is it just the novelty of red cake?  We have many red foods--strawberries, beets, cherries to name just a few. Or is it the flavor? You think it's vanilla, and you know it's not chocolate, but it has that slight chocolate kiss that makes it different from vanilla or chocolate.  I think it must be the flavor.  But if that were truly the case, then why wouldn't we make velvet cake that has the slight reddish tinge that comes naturally from vinegar and cocoa?  Why the entire bottle of dye? No, I think we love the color of our red velvet cake just as much as the flavor.

It truly is a color that doesn't come naturally.  Jamie Oliver's red velvet cake called for a natural red food coloring.  I love that idea.  At $15 a bottle and with a cake that uses an entire bottle, it was not to be.  Surely, it's okay to splurge a bit with color at Christmas....oui? Nigella called for the Wilton's Christmas red.  I used Red-Red.  They also make a "no taste" red.  Not sure what red tastes like, but I'm guessing all three of those Wilton colors look identical in a cupcake.

While I followed Nigella's ingredient list, I changed up her directions. Here at high altitude, cakes do funny things in my oven all the time and more often than not, come out flatter than a pancake.  I know that wet ingredients first, dry ingredients second with a bit of extra flour, usually works here.  Nigella's recipe has wet and dry and eggs and dry and wet until I was sure that these would sink into oblivion in my kitchen.  They still sunk a little. Frosting hides a multitude of errors.

While I'd like to think it's the flavor, I think I personally love red velvet cupcakes for their beauty.  Is any other cupcake quite as delightful to look upon?

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 c. all purpose flour 
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 7 tbsp of butter, room temperature
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 heaping tbsp red paste food coloring
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 cup of buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of red food coloring
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cider vinegar

Frosting ingredients

• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package), room temperature
• 2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• red sugar crystals for decoration (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine dry ingredients.
2 In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.   Add food coloring paste and mix completely.
3 In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract.
4 Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.
5 Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking.
6 Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

The Frosting
1 Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
2 Add the vanilla extract and mix.
3 Add the powdered sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Lunar Eclipse

Just in case you missed it last night/this morning...

Cookbook #70, Nigella Kitchen

When I lived in NY, I had some friends from Jamaica.  A couple of times a year, we'd head down to Brooklyn Tabernacle to hear the choir and then back to their place for the most amazing homecooked Jamaican meal ever...patties and jerk and rice, oh my.   One of Andrea's staple dishes was "rice and peas" a fabulous, savory coconut rice with beans.  Andrea always explained why they were called "peas" and not beans, but truthfully, I was too busy shoving my face with her cooking, that I don't recall the reason.

When I received Nigella's latest cookbook Nigella Kitchen, I began my standard processs of flipping through the book and adding sticky notes everywhere.  This was definitely a one whole pack of sticky notes kind of book...Irish Oaten rolls (with Guinness), Guinness Gingerbread (do you see Nigella's genius?), Coconut Cherry Banana Bread,  Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake, Papardelle with Butternut and Blue Cheese...it's all good. I had big plans for the Red Velvet Cupcake recipe, that is until I saw the Jamaican Jerk  and Rice and peas recipe.

The ingredient list is long and may be a deterrent initially, but after reading through, I saw that these were spices I already had and it was really just prep the night before.  Cooking the chicken and rice on the second day was easy peasy. 

Most of the rice and peas ingredients came straight from the can--the total effort was chopping onions, and then dumping everything in a pot and letting it cook for 15-20 minutes.

The verdict?  I'm a little torn on this one.  I think the chicken broth in the rice detracted from the coconut flavor of the rice.  If I made it again, I'd either halve or elimate the broth.  I also think both the rice and the chicken had a bit too much thyme and not enough heat.  I think Nigella went a bit meek on this--shouldn't traditional jerk have Scotch Bonnets?  Other than that, it was pretty tasty.  It's definitely not Andrea's, but I've never found Jamaican as phenomenal as hers. 

And the rest of the cookbook?  I'm hoping to find out sooner than later.  I have a couple other recipes tagged for this week, and the Red Velvet Cupcakes planned for Christmas Eve.

Homestyle Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas
From Nigella Kitchen

Ingredients

• 6 chicken breasts
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper 
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 in piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 whole fresh red chilies
• 1 onion, peeled and quartered

Directions

1. Slash the chicken breasts, 3 slashes per breast, making each slash cut about 1in deep into the meat on the diagonal. Put the chicken breasts into an oblong dish, slashed-sides down.
2. Put all the other ingredients into a food processor and blitz to a dark, earthy paste, then pour and spread over the chicken pieces and leave to marinate, out of the fridge, for 2-4 hours, or in the fridge, covered, overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 400F. Double-line a shallow roasting tin with aluminium foil. Tip into it the chicken, with its marinade, placing the chicken breasts slashed-side up. Roast for 30 minutes.
4. Take the tin out of the oven and pour off any excess watery juices. Use a pastry brush and a spoon to place any paste that has fallen off the chicken back onto the chicken, then return it to the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes, by which time it will be cooked through and tender with a thick, fiery crust. Serve with rice and peas.

Rice and Peas Ingredients

• 1 can kidney beans or black-eyed peas
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil 
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cups long-grain rice 
• 1 14fl oz can coconut milk
• 1 can chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• salt, to taste

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the beans/peas, and heat the oil in a heavy-based pan that has a lid.
2. Fry the onion for 4-5 minutes, stirring every now and again, letting it soften and brown a little as it fries. Add the chopped chilli and garlic, and give everything a good stir around.
3. Stir in the rice, making sure it is all slicked with oil, then pour in the coconut milk and chicken or vegetable stock, and stir in the drained gungo peas.
4. Bring the mixture to a bubble, clamp on the lid, turn down the heat to its lowest setting and let the rice cook gently for 15 minutes.
5. Check the rice is cooked through and the liquid is all absorbed – give the rice another 5 minutes if need be. Sprinkle with the freshly chopped thyme, and season with salt if desired, forking it through. Serve with jerk chicken.

It's a Christmas Cashmere-acle: Recycled Sweater Blanket

Alternate post title "Enabling Rottenness in Pets."

Miracles abound during the Christmas season... I finished a sewing project!!  This particular project has been "accumulating" since last year.  See, I noticed last winter that instead of sleeping in one of her 5 beds, Minxaroo was nesting in my sweaters in the closet.  She was especially fond of cashmere--can you blame her?  So as sweaters became misshapen or ruined, I started saving a few here and there.  I had seen some recycled sweater blankets on Etsy for......$200. Now, I'm not saying that it's not a lot of work or the price isn't justified, I just knew I would enjoy it so much more if I made it myself...and it was free.  When I noticed that Brooklyn would go into the hamper and pull sweaters, I knew it was time to get to work.

Process?  None that is repeatable or documentable.  I started with a few squares and rectangles  and then cut each piece to fit.  I worked by sewing entire rows together first and then to the blanket, but the secret to the "contrived randomness" is to switch edges periodically so that blocks don't always line up perfectly in rows. I also threw in a few patches for a little more rustic appeal. 

I was actually quite pleased with the result which is saying something since craft satisfaction tends to be about 50/50 round these parts. The best part is not having invested tons of money, because said blanket has already become the favorite pet nesting spot.  They never let me use it.