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TKR Ollie's Adventure

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@tiredwife Now a bacon wrapped steak from the grill sounds pretty darned good! Been too windy and rainy to grill here. So tonight was a butternut squash 'carbonara'. . . Is pasta with a butternut sauce and crispy bacon crumbles. Perfect on a cold evening!! Last night it was a pesto chicken breast with spaghetti squash. As you can tell, we really like our squash!! Oh - and I made a pumpkin pie. We couldn't wait for the holidays!!

Growing up, we always raised squash. I actually got the bug from my Grandpa. He would raise dozens each year, hubbards, butternut, acorn, and a northwest heirloom variety called Sweet Meat. It looks like a flatter Hubbard without the bumpy skin. Grandpa showed me how to save seeds and all that and My mom had a sort of compost pile between a couple rows of fruit trees that Grandpa told me watch for volunteer squash, pumpkins, and whatever else came up. I got pretty good at cultivating all kinds of that sort of thing. Kinda miss it, actually.
If you garden, try to find those Sweet Meat squash. You can order from Gill Bros. Seed Co. They are tasty and make great pies (better than real pumpkin - really like the Libby's purée!!) and such awesome breads and cookies. We ate a lot of it baked or sautéed. So sweet!!

Ok - really enough about squash!
 
@Ollie
As the squash expert, can you please tell me an easy way to peel squash.
They are available in some of the larger grocery stores in Ireland and pumpkin always at Halloween time.

Butternut Squash soup seems to be on every restaurant/coffee shop menu now.

Would love to add squash to my shopping list, but peeling them seems to be a hard process.
So, any expert tips greatly appreciated.

Take care,
Cathie
 
:rotfl: @marmora My squash expertise has gone international!! :loll:

Actually, it is easy. Just work the squash in sections. With a butternut - probably my favorite - trim off the stem end and the bulge end, then cut it in half across the neck, just above the 'bulge'. Now you have two smaller pieces with flat ends. Stand up the neck chunk on one of the cut ends and carefully slice off the skin - a strip - down its length. Keep slicing strips of skin off until you get the piece done. Do the same with the bulge piece, carefully curving your peeling slice on the bulgy part. Once it is peeled you can clean the seeds out, then cut it up to your hearts content. You can peel butter nuts with a peeler because the skin is thin, but they are slippery things and I like using a knife to do it so I can control the pieces.

Harder squashes you can do the same way. Get them in manageable pieces and pare the rinds off with a knife.

For an easy butternut soup/ purée : peel and cut into 1inch chunks. Peel and dice a medium onion. Chop two cloves of garlic. Sauté onion until translucent. Add garlic. Sauté a minute or so. Add squash. Sauté another couple minutes. Pour in two cups chicken or veg stock. Simmer until tender. Purée in blender or processor. Salt & pepper to taste.
Use as soup ( may need more stock) or as sauce on pasta. YUM!
 
@Ollie
Thank you for your "international squash advice".

Will add a butternut squash to my shopping list. Tonight it is lightly dusted cod with steamed new potatoes & carrots and cauliflower for DH and me.

Another question, if you can't get tinned/canned pumpkin to make pumpkin pie, can you use a real pumpkin and would you bake it in the oven first to soften and then put into a pie case ?

I know that The USA have the "Barefoot Contessa", but I'm more of a TKR Contessa at the moment.

Take care,
Cathie
 
Hi @Ollie I like spaghetti squash sautéed in a little garlic or herb butter. Hubby makes a really good butternut squash casserole. Taste kind of like pumpkin pie. Cooked butternut squash freezes really well.
Hubby made runza the other day, it is hamburger meat, sauerkraut, cheese baked in a bread dough, it is good and freezes good.
 
@marmora hi Cathie! To tell you the truth. . . Use butternut squash for your pumpkin pie, not pumpkins. It is hard to get a good pie quality pumpkin - the carving pumpkins are a different variety - bred for size, not for the dense, meaty flesh that makes a good pie. The most popular US brand of canned pumpkin for pies is "Libby's" and they freely admit to using a larger cousin of butternut squash. True story. I would guess that butternut are easier for you to get than one of the special pie pumpkins!!

So yes, bake / roast it and purée the cooked flesh. You can simply mash it, but watch for stringy fibers. That is why a quick purée is a good tip!! You want it to be thick so don't add any extra liquid until you make the pie. There are dozens of good recipes out there - this is the classic from the Libby's can!

Pumpkin Pie
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar (you can use brown sugar or Demerara sugar for a bit richer flavor)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin (butternut squash!)
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
  • 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell (or your favorite homemade single crust!)
  • Whipped cream (not optional, in my opinion!!)
@tiredwife You got me with the runza. . . Sounds good, though!! Maybe if it was a bit more like a shepards pie? Now THAT is an old favorite!!
 
@Ollie The runza is good, kind of like a 'hot pocket' type thing. We had shepards pie last week! With beef not lamb.
 
Ollie @Ollie
Thank you for the time and effort to send me on the Pumpkin Pie recipe.

Whenever, I'm in the States it one of the pies that I have to have at least once.
And also Cherry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is another favourite.

I was in the States for Thanksgiving to visit my sister in 2012, my last US Thanksgiving was in 1976, so long overdue. Had Pumpkin Pie a few times on that trip.

Jackie @tiredwife
If you send on the recipe for Runza, might try to make it.
Now that we have Polish grocery store here, due to the large number of Pole living in Ireland, can get sauerkraut in jars.

Off now to prepare a beef with carrots, celery and onions for tonight's dinner, sneered with steamed baby potatoes. Yummy and just what is needed as the nights are getting colder.

Take care,
Cathie
 
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@marmora Runza prepare dinner roll dough. meanwhile in large skillet add 1 lb hamburger (or mix of sausage and hamburger) and 1 cup chopped onion , salt and pepper til meat is browned. Let cool. Drain can of (14 ounce) sauerkraut add to meat and onion. Let Hubby also adds cheddar and mozzarella to his. When bread dough is ready roll it out roll size portions put 2 to 3 tbs of meat mix in rolled out roll then bring edges together seal and cook 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden.
 
@marmora My Danish cousins also are smitten by pumpkin pie!! OH!! I forgot the baking details- (and I apologize that I don't know the temperature conversions from F to C :what:)

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
POUR into pie shell.
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

@tiredwife Might have to try the runza!! I have a similar quick pocket that uses Pillsbury rolls rolled flat, then stuffed like your runza but with bacon, cheese, and browned burger. Bacon Cheeseburger Bites!!

@Minnie's knees Yes - we do love our food!! Do you have any fall favorites? My mom used to make a hamburger soup that was maybe my absolute favorite winter meal as a kid. Burger of course, water, then carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, celery, cabbage, onion. . . Whatever veg you have or like. Salt pepper to taste, and my mom's secret ingredient? She used ketchup. Gives a slightly sweet, tomato essence to the broth. It is a soup, with a thin broth, but very tasty. I've added salsa to spice it up, with black beans. I've also used beef stock instead of water, stew meat instead of burger. The change ups are endless. So - what do you like??
 
@Ollie runza freeze well, so if you make too much you can freeze them. If I remember right Kim doesn't like sauerkraut?
 
@tiredwife

Is Dinner Roll Dough the type that is in a tube and found in the refrigerator section in US supermarkets?

Not sure if we have that available in Ireland, we have sheets of puff pastry and other roll out pastry dough, so will look at that and see if that could be substituted.

@Ollie - thank you for the Pumpkin Pie recipe, will work on that next week. I have a chart that converts F to C.
Now to convince family to try it.

Cathie
 
@marmora LOL Steve makes his dinner rolls from scratch. It's like a yeast risen white bread recipe, but made in rolls. Not to be mistaken for biscuits.
 
Interesting about the squash. One time when I tried to use fresh pumpkin it was indeed too soupy.
This all reminds me that Thanksgiving is coming and I'll be in charge of the pumpkin pie. I use the Libby's recipe and go slightly easier on the cloves than the recipe calls for. It's a big hit with the family--more so than some other recipes others have tried. :)
 
Okay kids, I must share a slight variation I use in my pumpkin pies. Once they are assembled, I toss one jigger of bourbon in before baking. Of course this can be done before pouring into pie shells as well. While you don't know exactly what it is you are tasting, it sure adds a yummy flair! And of course, this is Kentucky, so we put bourbon in everything! Try it! Mary
 
Y'all are making me hungry and anxious for Thanksgiving to get here!


July 14th, 2014 Left Total Knee Replacement
 
@MoPeaches Join in the menu planning!! :wave: The more the merrier!!

@wolf woman Everything is better with bourbon!!! :thumb: I have a bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie recipe somewhere. . .:yes!:

@kneeper I've heard that story multiple times!! There are a couple varieties of pumpkins that are good to bake with like Sugar, Baby Pam, Autumn Gold, Fairytale and Cinderella. BUT you have to really hunt for them at farmers markets, probably. Or grow your own!! We never grew them, only squash. Traded squash with the neighbors for pumpkins!! :) My mom always made "pumpkin pie" with the Butternut or Sweet Meat squash. If I can dare tell this little family secret. . . My parents loved to have baked squash with hamburger/milk gravy sometimes - instead of potatoes or biscuits. I never developed a 'love' of it, but it was OK. Kind of that sweet and savory thing.

@marmora @tiredwife LOL!! My biscuit pocket recipe uses the tube dough kind, but any kind of bread/biscuit dough will work. And if I can make home made dough, I'll take that any day!! OH!! I just remembered that there is a frozen bread/roll dough available here in the US, too. That would also work. . . And I bet any pastry dough would work. Something that has just started showing up here in my little town is balls of pizza crust dough, frozen at the supermarket, or fresh from a local pizza place. I've been known to have that in the freezer and use it for pizza, breadsticks, and even once when I just had to have a little bit of cinnamon sticks!!

All this talk of food IS making me hungry!!
 
@Ollie Steve makes the best homemade bread! I think he was a chef in a previous life! He made yeast raise pancakes for breakfast today. I will be glad when he goes back to work so I can start loosing some weight:heehee:.
 
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