Madhu Knits and Cooks

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Quinoa, Feta, and Pistachios - A Comforting Winter Meal

Similar to my recent parsnips order, when I saw acorn squash was available for grocery delivery, I added that to my cart on a whim.  Why not try something new?

While I was initially planning on thinly slicing the squash for roasting, as I have seen others do, I became intrigued by the various "stuffed" versions on recipe websites.  However, none had the flavor combos that I was looking for - or called for only ingredients I had in my kitchen - so I decided to create a recipe based on three websites.  Ingredients and directions below!

Ingredients

For 2 main course servings

• 1.3 pound acorn squash
• Grapeseed oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 3 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. roasted, unsalted pepitas (optional)
• Juice from 1/4 lemon
• 3 tbsp. minced red onion
• Red wine vinegar, to taste (I started with a splash, but probably could have used 2 - 3 quick splashes or 1-2 tbsp.)
• 1/4 cup feta in brine, cut into small pieces

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut acorn squash in half, through top and bottom ends of squash, and scoop out seeds.  Brush approx. 1 tbsp. grapeseed oil along cut edges of the acorn squash, sprinkle a light coating of salt and pepper, and place the squash face down on a lined baking sheet.  Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes, turning pan once halfway through baking.

2.  Meanwhile, cook the quinoa on the stovetop with 1/2 cup water until al dente to tender (bring quinoa and water to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover pot until water mostly evaporated).  

3. While quinoa is cooking, chop the remaining herbs, vegetable, and cheese, and mix together.  When quinoa is cooled, combine the mixtures.

4. After removing the acorn squash from the oven, when it should be easily pierced by a knife, carefully flip over the squash pieces so that the cut sides are up.  Spoon and press down equal amounts of the filling into the squash.  

5. Place the baking sheet back into the oven, and bake for another 10 minutes.  Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

I really liked this comforting yet elegant squash dish, with its salty, sweet, and sour flavors, though I think more red vinegar would have helped to add a more pleasant contrasting sourness to the squash.  My husband did not like the pepitas inclusion for textural / flavor reasons (too salty, and would have preferred a smoother filling mixture) though I didn't have that same reaction.  Doubling this recipe would make for a wonderful healthy main course for a dinner party for 4.  

Modifications Gone Awry - Underwhelming Root Vegetable and Bean Soup

Years ago, I had an absolutely amazing pureed vegan parsnip soup.  Simple, velvety, and luscious.  A beautiful winter soup.

Inspired by that memory, I ordered some parsnips in our December grocery order, figuring that a recipe would be easy enough to find.  However, once those parsnips arrived, I couldn't find a pure parsnip soup recipe on any of my favorite sites.  Instead, the experts seemed to have ever better soups with parsnips, and as such, I decided to make Cook's Country Hearty Vegetable Soup.

Unfortunately, due to what I can only assume is significant user error, my heavily modified version of this soup was a disaster.  I substituted cranberry beans for the cannellini beans, which didn't work at all (the cranberry beans were too large and I think overcooked), and the lack of peas, spinach, and rosemary presumably had an effect too.  Oh, and I also modified the ratio of parsnips, potatoes, carrots, and onions based on what I had on hand.  And used a toasted English muffin in place of "hearty white sandwich bread."  So lots of modifications.

The only good thing about this soup was how good balsamic vinegar tasted in it.  It definitely imparted a nice, sweet tangy flavor to this otherwise thick, depressingly boring, and poorly textured soup.  So I am glad I learned about balsamic's potential role in soup, otherwise this was a soup I was happy to throw away.

Miznon's Whole Cauliflower - Easier than Expected Cauliflower Treat!

A few months ago, my friends Jenny and Dave made the famed Miznon whole roasted cauliflower at home and raved about the results.  One of my biggest pandemic regrets is that I kept pushing off our trip to the NYC Miznon location (last reservation I made and cancelled was for March 13, 2020), so I have yet to try this cauliflower sensation (let alone their other delish vegetarian options!).

Hearing that I could try this dish at home - and that it wasn't difficult - inspired me to look for smaller cauliflower heads that may work with their recipe.  Unfortunately though, our grocery store generally seems to have gigantic cauliflower heads so months passed before I found what seemed to be a sufficiently manageable cauliflower size.

While it took me awhile to figure out the logistics of how to boil the cauliflower (watching the Food & Wine video would have helped!), I ended up using a colander instead of a ceramic plate to keep the cauliflower submerged.  I also substituted kosher salt for the sel gris to fit what I had on hand.

After draining and baking the cauliflower, it wasn't as browned as I liked so I turned on the broiler for 2 minutes which some other websites recommended.  That worked great to get the dark browning throughout the cauliflower head and also made up for my not-quite-even cauliflower base, which meant the cauliflower fell over during baking instead of remaining head up.

While I served the cauliflower with tahini, we didn't quite like the combination (might have also been that our tahini isn't the highest quality) so I may make another sauce for this in the future.  I otherwise though loved this well-salted, soft, and lightly oiled cauliflower.  I look forward to making it again as a great side or meal centerpiece.

My First Couscous - A Bland Disappointment

Last year, I had a perfectly spiced Moroccan vegetable and couscous dish at a restaurant in Minnesota.  Tangy, sweet, and rich with multiple flavors from herbs and the individual vegetables.  And the couscous - what a great grain complement.  

I have never made couscous at home, but inspired by this meal memory, I decided to try my hand at it.  And as I do, I turned to Cook's Illustrated first for recipe ideas and settled on their Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Couscous recipe.

Unfortunately, as the post title suggests, I was underwhelmed by this couscous as it tasted quite bland.  Chickpeas, peas, carrots and couscous.  Nothing more, nothing less.  The fresh and dried herbs didn't really come through, and while extra lime juice helped, it still didn't do much.  Oh well, at least I tried couscous! 

And most important, I learned that you don't need to cook couscous on the stovetop, rather just pour boiling water / broth over the dried couscous (toasted in this case), cover, and let the hot liquid "cook" the couscous for several minutes.  Hopefully, I find a better recipe for my next couscous attempt!

Irish Soda Bread with Caraway Seeds - An Earthy, Slightly Sweet Treat

Several years ago, I had a fantastic caraway seed and raisin-studded bread at a friend's brunch.  Within days, I had purchased my own jar of caraway seeds...which have remained sealed since.  Well, no time like cleaning out the pantry shelves to finally ask for the recipe!

This Irish soda bread recipe was a cinch to make and to alter to our preferences (namely, omitting the raisins).  The recipe also ended up being dummy proof as I messed up halving the salt and baking powder to produce one loaf instead of two, and my hasty spooning out of those doubled ingredients (along with some flour) didn't ruin the bread.

The baked bread was incredibly moist, earthy from the caraway seeds, and slightly sweet from the sugar.  Yum - this was a perfect breakfast bread, and also made an excellent toast over the coming days.  I look forward to making this soda bread again and again!

Dishoom Paneer Achari - A Tangy, Multi-Textured Treat

The Dishoom cookbook's streak of success in my kitchen continues with the lovely Paneer Achari.

The paneer and bell pepper dish features smooth, creamy paneer chunks with crunchy and bright bell peppers for a great textural contrast.  And the two marinades provide tangy citrus and spicy flavors to each bite.  Yum, I really enjoyed this dish despite the 6 - 24 hour marination time.

You start by preparing a first marinade of spices for the paneer, followed by a more complicated yogurt, pickle, and chickpea-flour based second marinade for both the paneer and bell peppers.

Then put in the fridge for 6-24 hours before grilling, or in our case, searing on high heat in a cast-iron skillet.

Delicious!

Dishoom's Aloo Sabzi - A Wonderful Potato, Chickpea, and Paneer Spice Medley

Quarantining with the local library's Dishoom cookbook has been a true joy.  This is now a must-purchase cookbook as I can't imagine not having it in our kitchen, as confirmed by another recent new recipe attempt. 

The Dishoom Aloo Sabzi is deeply flavorful with earthy, spicy, and slight sour notes, and more substantive than most aloo sabzi preparations with chickpeas and paneer included.

I did make some modifications to the dish to conform to my tastes, including halving the dried coriander and only using enough lime juice to taste.  Next time, I may also reduce the water to 2 cups instead of 3 for a thicker broth but the extra liquid didn't detract from the flavors at all.

While this is a multi-step cooking process with boiling the potatoes first, it does come together fairly quickly and the "off time" while letting the potatoes boil and then simmering the final easily allows for preparing other dishes.

Milk Street Black-Eyed Pea Fritters - An Easy Party Snack

I've been eating a lot of black-eyed peas this past year, mostly in tacos.  I really like these flavorful, versatile beans which are also a cinch to prepare with their short cooking time.  When I recently saw Milk Street's West African Black-Eyed Pea Fritters, I thought these would be a logical extension of my new black-eyed pea love.  

These fritters couldn't have been easier to make - no bean cooking required - and the final result was good, though not great.  The fritters tasted like what you'd expect a fried black eyed-pea snack to taste like, nothing more, nothing less.    

While I am not sure if I will make these treats again, I did enjoy the crunchy exterior coupled with the moist and soft interior and the subtle black-eyed pea flavor.  

The fritter batter starts by soaking the beans before throwing them in a food processor.

Then stir in the other herbs to make the final batter.  Finish by dropping spoonfuls into the 350 degree oil. 

Three modifications I made to the Milk Street recipe:  I inadvertently soaked the peas for 27 hours, I halved the recipe, and I subbed jalapenos or serranos for the fresnos, which generally aren't available in our store.  The final fritters also required a fair amount of extra salt for the bean and chile flavors really come out.

America's Test Kitchen French Onion Dip - "Just OK"

Although I previously created a "completely amazing" Sour Cream Onion Dip, several Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen online onion dip recipes enticed me to try something new. 

The resulting Cook's Country French Onion Dip was good, but not nearly as good as I remember my original dip.  The Cook's Country dip featured not only caramelized onions, but also balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise, which made the dip super tangy despite my reductions of all three (1.5 onions, only 2 tbsp. balsamic, and 2 tbsp. of mayonnaise).  The dip was also sweeter than I expected from both the onions and balsamic, which I didn't quite enjoy.

A strike in favor of sticking to what works, instead of constantly trying new things!

Milk Street's Menemen - Turkish-Style Spicy Eggs and Vegetables

Looking to use up some well-past-expired, but still-good eggs, I tried Milk Street's version of Menemen, a Turkish vegetable-egg dish.  The resulting breakfast was good - spicy, filling, and tangy from the brined feta and capers.  While I am not sure if I will make this again because I am generally not an egg person, I am happy I tried this vegetable-heavy dish.

You start by cooking the peppers and scallions, before mixing the tomatoes and capers.

The eggs cooked up very quickly after the vegetables were ready - about one minute.  Unfortunately my nonstick pan was a little too hot, so I got more well-cooked eggs instead of the softer, creamy eggs called for in the recipe.

In addition to halving the recipe to accommodate 4 eggs, I also substituted parsley for dill and feta-in-brine instead of feta crumbles.  That feta may have tilted the balance of flavors too much toward sour, but the dish was still pretty good.  The feature I liked the least - my overcooked eggs!