Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

I'm not sure what attracted me to this salad, but it seemed like an interesting vegetarian meal.  I figured with the addition of butternut squash the salad would be filling enough to constitute an entire meal.  Generally I require meat of some sort to consider a salad as an entire meal (see my Chicken Soba Salad for a perfect example of what I consider an entree salad), but in this case the butternut squash seemed both entree-worthy and incredibly seasonally appropriate.  The fact that the dressing was a warm cider vinaigrette made it even more seasonal.  Did I mention that it suddenly got really cold in NYC over the weekend?  It is supposed to be a high of 46 degrees tomorrow!  That's crazy!  But it is perfect butternut squash soup weather (supposing of course that we had another squash).

Anyway, this was an interesting salad.  And a very autumnal one.  I liked it and it was very filling, but it verged on being a little too sweet for me.  In the future I will probably cut out the maple syrup while roasting the squash because with the Craisins (which are sweetened), the apple cider (sweetened) and the cider vinegar it got a little cloyingly sweet.  I would definitely make the dressing again, because I really enjoyed it (although it did require more effort than our usual vinaigrettes).  I would also make the salad again, but with a few minor adjustments.

Recipe after the jump!

Edamame Hummus

I'm not sure why dips appeal to me so much, but they really do.  I love anything that you can serve with pita, or spread over slices of baguette.  Unfortunately, some dips (like most spinach and artichoke dips) are full of fat (not to mention dairy, which is bad when you're lactose-intolerant like I am).  So I generally try not to indulge too much, but I just can't stop myself when it comes to hummus.  I love hummus.  And I am always looking for a new and better hummus recipe.  This time I decided to mix it up and make an edamame hummus.  The addition of edamame gave me some trouble in deciding what herbs and spices to mix in - Alex suggested shichimi togarashi, but that just didn't sound right.  In the end I went with more traditional hummus flavors and just used some tahini, lemon juice, parsley and cayenne pepper.  Texturally, edamame hummus is always a little grainier than white bean hummus or traditional hummus.  I think it has something to do with the fiber content, but I'm not a nutritionist so I don't really know.  Anyway, I really liked this hummus.  I think Alex prefers regular hummus, but there was something nice and fresh about the edamame hummus.  It does rather resemble guacamole or some form of avocado mousse, but I can't hold that against it since avocado is quite delicious.

Recipe after the jump!

My newest obsession...

So I have an obsession with and/or addiction to the Schnitzel & Things truck, which parks outside my office in Midtown at least once a week.  This truck, does CRAZY business and it's not uncommon to wait in line for 20 minutes, just to place your order.  And then you wait another 10-15 minutes to pick up your order.  For instance, this morning one of my coworkers and I headed down to the truck just after noon (we'll say we left the office at 12:05 and arrived in line at roughly 12:10 pm).  At 12:41 pm we were still waiting to pick up our order.  And at no times was the number of people waiting in line to order less than twenty or so (some of whom are placing orders for what seems like their entire office).  So we waited.  And waited some more.  By the time you pick up your food 30-40 minutes later you're almost convinced that there is no way that it could possibly be worth waiting for so long.  But it is.  Their pork schnitzel is unbelievable.  Try it with either the spicy sriracha mayo, or the ginger, scallion and garlic relish (I think I might prefer the relish, but my friend prefers the spicy mayo).  And get it with a side of braised sauerkraut (this is a schnitzel truck afterall, how can you pass up the kraut) and the roasted beet and feta salad.  If you get there early enough you should also give the Austrian potato salad a try because it is really good, but they always run out.  I have never tried their chicken or cod schnitzel, but I hear that both are really good too.

For their schedule, you can either check out their blog or sign up for their Twitter feed.  The truck only operates between the hours of 11:30 am and 2 pm, and the line will be long, but it is well worth it!

Mixed Green Salad with Candied Pecans, Blue Cheese, and Sherry Vinaigrette

So I have to give a shout out here to Susan Spicer for giving me the inspiration for this salad in her Crescent City Cooking cookbook.  We took the inspiration for both the candied pecans and the sherry vinaigrette from her cookbook.  The funny thing was that I had always planned to do a salad with candied pecans and blue cheese, plus our mixed greens from the CSA, it just happened that she had several of the elements I wanted to make in her cookbook.  I had originally wanted to make Thomas Keller's Candied Pecans from his Ad Hoc At Home Cookbook, but the recipe called for you to roast them for 2 hours at a low temperature, and I didn't have the time or the energy for that this evening.  So as I was flipping through Susan Spicer's recipe because I have been wanting to try a few of her vinaigrette recipes, I came across her recipe for Cajun-Spiced Pecans and decided to use it.  And then I decided to make a variation on her Sherry Vinaigrette (minus the capers, which just sounded odd to me).  So I threw together a salad with our mixed greens, some blue cheese, those candied pecans and a sherry vinaigrette.

I picked out the blue cheese at the cheese counter at Zabar's, where I told the lady behind the counter that I wanted a nice blue cheese that was milder than a Roquefort to serve in a salad with candied pecans.  This blue, which was a creamy French blue cheese (I tore off the label so I don't know exactly what type it was, but it was quite creamy, with a nice pungency) was what she recommended.  Alex's complaint with the blue cheese selection was that if you got a big bite of cheese, it really overpowered the other, more subtle flavors of the vinaigrette.  And he was right.  Perhaps a milder blue cheese like gorgonzola, or a Valdeon would be a better option.  Otherwise the salad was really nice - something that you would expect to be served at a neighborhood restaurant.  Actually, with the addition of some fresh or dried fruit (perhaps some figs) and a different blue cheese this would be a very nice restaurant salad.  Not only that, but I think this salad was the perfect accompaniment to the ribeyes Alex picked up at the butcher after work today.  The vinaigrette was really nice - a little tangy from the sherry vinegar, with a pleasant sweetness from the honey.  I also liked the candied pecans, although I really thought that as Cajun-spiced they would have a little more heat to them.  However, I think that had they been super spicy they wouldn't have gone quite as well with the salad, so I guess it was a good thing that they weren't as spicy as I had thought!

P.S.  I know that this is the fourth recipe that I have published today (and the only one that I actually made today), but I have had all of these posts basically tee-ed up to be posted and somehow today I finally had the time (and the motivation) to post all of them.  I would have continued to sit on  a few of the recipes, but God only knows that if I did that I wouldn't get around to posting them for a few more weeks...

Recipe after the jump!

Quasi-Moroccan Turnip Greens and Moroccan Meatloaf

Sadly, this week was the second to last week of our CSA.  And as daunting as the CSA is at times (what in the world am I supposed to do with dandelion greens, a gigantic rutabega, and mystery squash?!), I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience - from Googling said mystery squash, to cooking up various vegetable-driven experiments (some successful, some not so much).  So this Tuesday we ended up with a big bunch of turnip greens and two lonely turnips.  So I immediately started with Epicurious and came across this recipe for Leon O'Neals Turnip Greens.  We were already making a vaguely Moroccan meatloaf, so I figured why not take some inspiration from Leon O'Neal (whomever he is) and blend it with our Moroccan theme and go from there.  So I threw in a little of this, a little of that, and voila - our turnip and turnip greens concoction was done!  And man, it was good - spicy, and shockingly flavorful, I could have eaten an entire plate of the turnips and left behind the meatloaf (not that it wasn't good, but it just couldn't compete and I think that was partially due to the lack of a sauce on top).  Actually, Alex and I polished off all of the turnips and left some of the meatloaf behind, which is mildly shocking.  But the turnips were just so good.  And can I just say that I never thought those words would come out of my mouth?

Recipes after the jump!

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recently I had the opportunity to go to a business lunch at Marea in NYC.  Everything I ate there was amazing, but one of the things that stuck out the most to me was from the little silver tray of cookies and other mini-treats that they served after the meal.  It was perhaps the most delicious zucchini cake I have ever tasted, topped with a little dollop of cream cheese frosting.  It was so moist and unbelievably delicious.  So I figured I would try to make my own.  Now I know better than to expect that my zucchini cake could ever compare with something I try at a restaurant like Marea.  I am good in the kitchen, but I am not 2 star Michelin Guide good.  And to be honest, neither are most professional chefs.  So it's all good.

I love the spices in this cake.  And then I love the combination of the cake with the slightly citrusy cream cheese frosting.  Then again, I think I would love cream cheese frosting on any type of cake.  My cupcake choices are often dictated by which cupcakes are topped with cream cheese frosting and I firmly believe that Magnolia's red velvet cupcakes would be immensely better if they had cream cheese frosting, rather than buttercream frosting (which I often find to be too sweet and too buttery).  This was my first experiment substituting apple sauce for vegetable oil and it turned out really nicely.  In the past I have always been worried that the flavor of the apple sauce would interfere with the flavor of the cake itself, but in this instance it worked marvelously (although I did think that a few days after being baked the texture of the cake turned a little gummy, which I attributed to the apple sauce).  The cake was very moist and very flavorful.  You can't really taste the zucchini, but the zucchini isn't really the point, is it?  The zucchini is there to fool you into believing that you're being healthy, while inhaling large quantities of delicious cream cheese frosting!  Then again, the zucchini does help to keep the cake moist, plus it makes the cake look so pretty with all of the vibrant green flecks (if you look closely in the picture above you can see some) so it definintely does have its uses.

Recipe after the jump!

Potato Frittata

While I do love making complicated meals, there are some nights when all I want to do is throw something together quickly and eat dinner with a minimum of fuss.  This frittata is perfect for one of those nights where the absolute last thing you want to do is spend hours slaving away in the kitchen.  Served with a nice arugula salad, it makes a perfect meal for lunch or dinner.  The eggs are nice and fluffy, which is a nice textural contrast from the potatoes (which we sauteed until they were softened, but still retained a hint of firmness) and the chives provide lovely oniony flavor.  I don't usually find frittatas to be super filling (and I rarely order them at restaurants because they often come out so dry and flavorless), but the potatoes make the dish heartier and makes it all feel that much more dinner-appropriate.  Because as much as I love breakfast for dinner, sometimes you just need dinner for dinner!

Recipe after the jump!