Chipotle Chili with Chicken & Butternut Squash

Yummy!

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and this is one such recipe.  I had some leftovers that I needed to use up, in this case, some roasted butternut squash and some shredded chicken breast, so I decided to make them into a chili. The squash acts as a thickener for the chili, but could be skipped.  If you don't have shredded chicken on hand, you could easily sauté some chicken before you start your onions, remove and then add in before the simmering process, or skip completely and up the beans to 2 cans for a meat free version. This is a really simple, satisfying, and spicy chili - the hubs and I really enjoyed it over wild rice. I hope you like it too!



Ingredients:

All the good stuff

• 1 cup roasted butternut squash, fork mashed
• 1-2 cups shredded chicken breast
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 to 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped (1 full pepper makes for a very spicy stew, scale back if you're not into fiery foods, but the smokiness of the pepper is important for the flavor, so don't skip it entirely)
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (again, scale back or omit for less spice)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 T chili powder
• 1  tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (Lee & Perrins is my preferred brand)
• 8-10 Campari sweet tomatoes, halved
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 1 can Habicheulas Blancas (small white beans), drained and rinsed
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp "better than bouillon" chicken

Garnish with:

• Avocado slices
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Non-fat plain Greek Yogurt (less guilt than sour cream, and all the taste!)
• Lime Wedge
• Serve over rice of your liking - I used long grain wild rice

Start by roasting your peppers and tomatoes.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Rub the peppers and tomatoes with some EVOO, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast on the top shelf of the oven until the skin of the peppers is blackened and the tomatoes are collapsed and beginning to caramelize, approximately 20 minutes.  When you remove them from the oven, immediately take the peppers and put them in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  The steam will help them "sweat" their skins off.  While the peppers are cooling, rough chop the tomatoes and set aside.  When the peppers are cool, use a knife to scrape the skins off.  Discard skin, and rough chop the pepper flesh.  Set aside.

How the bell pepper and
tomatoes look when ready
to remove from the oven

In a dutch oven, sauté the red onion over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, and sauté for another 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant.  Next, turn your heat to medium low and add the chipotle, red pepper flake, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, and Mexican oregano.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, and then add the better than bouillon (kicks the flavor up a notch).  Let that dissolve into the mixture, and then add your chicken broth.  Stir well and be sure to scrape up any caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan.

Next, add the honey and a few dashes of Worcestershire.  Add the butternut squash, shredded chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers, and Habichuelas Blancas. Turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes.

While the chili is simmering, cook your rice (if you wish to serve it over rice) according to package directions, and prepare the other garnishes.

When 20 minutes is up, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve over rice with some slices of avocado, fresh cilantro, greek yogurt, and a squeeze of lime juice to brighten the flavor profile.  Enjoy!

Pasta with Roasted Acorn Squash and Marscapone

Squash and tomatoes, ready to roast!

I'm convinced that nearly everything tastes better roasted.  Roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes,  and roasted squash are the stars of this show.  The roasting process both intensifies and sweetens the flavors of the veggies, and when combined with the creamy Marscapone cheese and the woodsy tarragon and earthy sage, makes a delicious, rich and satisfying sauce.   It's almost mac & cheese-ish with how creamy it turns out, but with far fewer calories!

Ingredients:

• 2 acorn squash, cut into eighths (quartered and halved again) and seeded
• 1 heaping cup grape tomatoes
• 1 head garlic
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 scant tsp ground nutmeg
• 1-2 cups chicken broth
• 3 dollops Marscapone cheese
• 1 T chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 T chopped fresh sage
• 1 lb tube style pasta, such as Cellentani or Penne 
• EVOO
• Coarse Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Cloves exposed, rubbed
with EVOO, ready to wrap
and roast!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  While it heats, prepare your veggies for roasting.  Rub the squash with EVOO and sprinkle with S&P.  Toss the tomatoes with a little bit of EVOO, S&P. For the garlic, cut the top off so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Rub the entire head with EVOO and then wrap in a piece of aluminum foil.  Place the squash cut side up in a glass backing dish, and sprinkle the tomatoes on top of the squash.  Place the foil wrapped garlic in a corner of the dish.  Put in the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes.  Check the garlic, the cloves should be soft.  Check the squash, it should be fork tender.  The tomatoes are done whenever the squash is done. 

While the veggies are roasting, take your chopped onion and sauté in large sauce pan (large enough to hold the pasta later on) over medium low heat in EVOO with a little bit of salt and pepper until it just starts to caramelize, approximately 20 minutes. If it starts to burn at all, turn the heat down lower.

Bring your pasta water to a boil.

When veggies are done, add tomatoes to the pan with the onion, and scoop the squash from the rinds and fork mash in a bowl.  Remove 5 cloves of the roasted garlic (save the rest wrapped in foil in the fridge to use for another recipe or delicious garlic bread), and rough chop it and add to pan with onion.  Sauté all together for 2-3 minutes, then deglaze with the white wine, making sure you scrape up all the good caramelized bits from the pan.

Add the fork mashed squash to the pan, and season with nutmeg and S&P.  Add enough chicken broth to make the squash and veggies form a thick sauce.  Turn the heat to low and let simmer.

Cook the pasta according to package directions for al-dente pasta.

Rich, thick & creamy!

When the pasta is almost done cooking, add the dollops of Marscapone and the chopped herbs to the sauce.  Mix well, and continue to simmer.

When pasta is done, drain and do not rinse.  Add into pan with sauce, and let cook on low for 2-3 minutes to allow flavors to marry and permeate the pasta. Serve with a bit of parmesan on top.

Inventing a New Thanksgiving Side Dish, Take 1

Close, but no cigar.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and the food that my family makes that day is something I look forward to all year. Seriously, all year (I will be sure to blog about that meal later on).  With the exception of a few people in the bunch, we're generally not much into sweets, so candied yams have never been all that popular, but they do make an appearance (something that green been casserole will NEVER do).

Today I was thinking about how I could take something like candied yams, and make it more to my liking, so I started to brainstorm.  I knew that if I was going to make anything sweet, I would want to have a savory component in the dish to counter that flavor note.  So, what I came up with was oven roasted sweet potatoes, goat cheese, and honeyed pecans with sage and crispy shallots.  They came out very pretty, and the hubby liked them, but I wasn't totally jazzed with the overall result.  Kind of reminded me of someone who's very attractive, but as you get to know them you find out they don't have much substance and aren't actually very enjoyable.

Whenever you make up a new recipe, you take the risk that it won't come out super well.  Don't be deterred!  Having a dish come out to an "ehh...." review isn't a bad thing.  There's nothing like room for improvement.  So, to all you aspiring home cooks, just keep chugging away!  You learn each time you cook - so take note of what you do: what you liked, what you didn't like, and improve it the next time around.

With that said, no recipe just yet. I'll work on this and hopefully have one to share, soon!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Sage

Voila!

Technically speaking, fall has arrived in Washington, DC.... although you'd never know it walking around outside today.  Temperatures hovering around the mid 80's!  I simply love fall - the crispness of the air, halloween, thanksgiving, birthdays, my wedding anniversary, the colors of the changing leaves, and most of all, fall food!

Even though it doesn't feel like fall, the bounty of this lovely season has begun to show up in the market, and I couldn't resist the mounds of butternut squash in the produce section.  Squash is an awesome food - so many different types, and so many things you can do with it - mash it, roast it, stuff it, turn it into soup, add it to cakes and quick breads, etc. etc. etc.  I came up with this butternut squash soup recipe last year, and I hope you give it a try!  It's slightly time consuming because you have to wait for the squash to roast, but the active cook time is pretty quick and overall, it's a cinch.

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks.
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 heaping T dried, crumbled sage
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (this provides the spice - but you can omit if you wish)
• 1/4 tsp ground thyme
• Scant 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 32 oz. box Chicken Broth
• 1 cup lowfat milk
• 1 cup water
• 3 T butter, diced, plus 1 T butter.
• S&P
• EVOO

Directions:

Above: Pre Roast.  Below: Post Roast.
See how the color intensifies?  That
means the flavors have, too!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Put your squash chunks into a large glass baking dish.  Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with S&P.  Toss to coat.  Take your diced butter and dot it over the top of the squash.  Put in oven to roast. I don't have an actual time on this - but it takes at least 30 minutes.  Every once in a while, open up the oven and stir it around to help it brown well and to distribute the melted butter.  It's done when the squash evenly mashes under a spoon, and it has some nice golden brown coloring to it.

While the squash is roasting,  take your diced onion and sauté it in a stock pot or dutch oven in a bit of EVOO and the remaining T of butter.  Season with S& P and cook until it is tender a bit caramelized. Turn off the heat as soon as it's done, and wait for your squash.

When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and add it directly to the pot with the onions.  Add in the entire box of chicken broth, and turn your stovetop on to medium heat.  Using a flat wooden spoon, mix well and scrape up all the caramelized goodness from the bottom of the pot.  Add the milk & water, and all of your spices.  Side note - if you aren't crazy about the taste of curry, still use it in this recipe.  It's a very small amount that adds complexity to the flavor profile and leaves your tastebuds wondering, "hmm... what was it that made this SO good?"

Caramelized onion goodness.

Bring the mixture to a low boil and let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Then, turn off the heat, and using an immersion blender, blend to a nice smooth consistency.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a normal blender.  HOWEVER, it is VERY important that you never try to blend a hot liquid!  It will explode all over the place.  Trust me, I speak from experience (I was making pea soup and had scalding green goop all over the ceiling, cupboards, counter, floor, and myself, not fun!!). If you are going to use a traditional blender, let the mixture cool to room temperature before blending, then reheat prior to serving. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

I like to serve with a small dollop of nonfat greek yogurt to add a bit more creaminess, as well as a sprinkle of cayenne for a little more spice.  You could also sprinkle with some fresh chopped chives and chopped toasted cashew. Or a dollop of créme fraiche. Or whatever you feel like.   It's nice to have some nice crusty bread on the side for dipping.  Enjoy!