What are You Cooking the Week of October 1, 2017?

[BakerAunt]

I'll be making a BLT for lunch and pizza (baking or cooking?) for dinner.

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[Italiancook]

From Martha Stewart's website, I made "Butternut Bisque." It's delicious, but peeling the squash was worse than usual. The recipe calls for 4 pound butternut squash. I bought that size, instead of 2 -2 lb. The problem was that the squash was so wide that I couldn't handle it to peel it. My husband had to peel it. He'd never done that before, so even with my instructions, it was tedious for him. The other problem was the squash was so thick I couldn't cut it. Hubby had to do that, too. Altogether, it took 55 minutes to prep the squash. I could have done it faster, and cut it myself if I had bought 2-2 lb. squashes.

While the bisque is delicious, I didn't like the texture. Too thick to suit me. When I make this again, I'll add some water or chicken broth at the end to make it more soupy.

[Mike Nolan]

Some years ago my sister-in-law asked us to make a rutabaga dish for Thanksgiving dinner from a recipe she gave us. It took at least an hour for the two of us to slice up a large rutabaga, a band saw would have helped! (And neither of us cared for the taste of the dish.)

A bisque is supposed to be a thick but creamy smooth soup. Most of the time when I make soup it's really thick, but that's because it has lots of meat and vegetables (and often noodles) in it.

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, this is my favorite butternut squash soup
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-butternut-squash-soup-and-curry-condiments-recipe-1972725

It has a great texture, velvety and smooth

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: You raise a good point about smaller as opposed to larger butternut squashes. I'll remember that. Your post also reminds me that I have three on the counter that I need to process.

I have used vegetable peelers--the wide ones--to peel the skin of butternut squash. I have also cut the squash in half and roasted it cut side down on a rimmed sheet lined with parchment. When it is tender, I leave the skin and dice just the squash, which I then peel off. I thought that roasted butternut squash had a nicer flavor in soup.

[Mike Nolan]

I’ve got my shopping and menu planning for the week done, I’m making chicken cacciatore with some bone-in chicken breasts, using red peppers and tomatoes from the garden, an eye of round roast and potato leek soup. We’ll probably have something like tuna melts or BLT’s one day, and leftovers another.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the recipe link, cwcdesign. I'll probably try it. I wonder, though, instead of cutting the butternut squash into cubes, couldn't the squash be roasted in halves and added to a simmering pot of the liquid and spices. Cook it for 5 minutes, then puree it with an immersion blender. Maybe I'm just looking for an easy way to have butternut soup without all the work.

Mike, thanks for the info about the rutabaga. I had planned on trying a new recipe for a winter soup that uses rutabaga. I'm not up to spending an hour prepping the veg, so I'll toss the recipe.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Italiancook.

[Mike Nolan]

A smaller rutabaga might have been easier to peel and cut, the one we had was probably 9 inches in diameter.

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, you could do that but then you'd have to figure out a way to roast all those other ingredients - onions, apples, St to infuse the squash with those flavors.

I prefer to roast the halves myself but the flavor is really good roasted this way.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by cwcdesign.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by cwcdesign.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner tonight, I made Dilled Salmon and Couscous.

[Joan Simpson]

Taco Salad here tonight.

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook here's one that I just got from Food and Wine made with roasted halves. I think I'm going to try it when it cools down a little - still way too hot for soup. The ginger sounds good
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/gingered-butternut-squash-soup-spicy-pecan-cream?xid=NL_DAILY100217&utm_source=foodandwine.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily&utm_content=2017100214PM

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I just saw this video on peeling butternut squash. I plan to try it:

https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/how-to-peel-butternut-squash-microwave?utm_medium=email&utm_source=TT&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_content=Editorial

[Italiancook]

Wow, BakerAunt! If the technique in the video works, it's wonderful. I don't have that type of vegetable peeler, but will look for one to buy. I don't know how you found that video, but thanks a lot.

cwcdesign, thanks for giving us the Food & Wine link. The recipe looks good, but I have a problem with it. I don't have any stores nearby that sell fennel or fresh ginger. I'm thinking, though, that I might try this recipe with fennel seed and ground ginger. I doubt it'll be as good as fresh, but . . . nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[cwcdesign]

BakerAunt's post reminded me that one of the bloggers I follow preps her sQuash in the slow cooker

Easiest Way to Cook a Butternut Squash: Slow-Cooker Butternut Squash:

Italiancook, most supermarket chains and probably Walmart now carry fresh ginger and fennel - are you able to shop at either of those?

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