A Healthy Start

Lofty goals, hopes and dreams, aspirations soar as we welcome another year. New Year's resolutions are certainly inspiring, but I'm taking this opportunity to remind myself that every single day of the year is a good time to reflect upon self improvement.

If eating healthier is one of your goals for 2011 as it is mine, here's a nutritious dish to get you started.

But before I get to the recipe, I want to share that Hungry Cravings was the Foodista Drink Blog of the Day on New Year's Eve, and my Pomegranate-Grapefruit Champagne Sparklers were featured on Gourmet Live's Weekly Roundup: Creative Cocktails. Also, this week's Cooking Club of America Online Find is my Coconut Tapioca Pudding. I couldn't be more thankful for all the link love!


Quinoa, Squash & Leek Pilaf with Runny Eggs
Printable Recipe

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, pale part only, sliced
1 2-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 ½ cups quinoa
1 quart vegetable broth
¾ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs
Grated Parmegiano-Reggiano, for serving

Heat a small, heavy pot over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the leeks and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until soft. Add the butternut squash and quinoa and stir until coated with the oil. Add the broth and thyme, season to taste with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed.

Cook the eggs sunny side up with the remaining tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Divide the quinoa among individual bowls, top each with an egg and plenty of Parmegiano, and serve immediately.

Serves 6 as a vegetarian main course.

A Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup and Pumpkin Spice Scones

Turkey day is less than a week away! Thanksgiving menu planning is in full swing, and everyone's focused on pulling off a memorable turkey feast. So in case you need some inspiration, here's a roundup of a few of my personal favorite Thanksgiving recipes. These are the dishes that are on my Thanksgiving dinner table year after year. Oh, and I've also thrown in a new recipe for some Pumpkin Spice Scones, because Thanksgiving breakfast should be special too.

• Cranberry-Apricot Chutney – A twist on the traditional, flavored with ginger.

• Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Pesto – So good, you may forget to leave room for the turkey. Seriously, it happened to me last year.

• Traditional Sourdough Dressing – The quintessential. Nuff said.

• Butternut Squash & Potato Gratin – Hello, heavy cream! If Thanksgiving isn't an excuse to use heavy cream with abandon, I don't know what is.

• Pumpkin Crème Brûlées – Way better than pie.

Here's wishing you a happy and yummy Thanksgiving!


Pumpkin Spice Scones
Printable Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 ounces (¾ stick) cold unsalted butter, shredded
1 large egg
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 teaspoons Turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Blend together the egg, pumpkin puree, and 1/3 cup of the cream in a small bowl, add to the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Transfer to a work surface and knead a few times until the dough just holds together. Pat the dough into a 6-inch wide, 1 ½-inch thick circle and cut into 8 wedges. Arrange the scones a couple of inches apart on a parchment-lined baking tray. Lightly brush the scones with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cream and sprinkle with the Turbinado sugar. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 8 scones. Work quickly and with a light touch to prevent the butter in the pastry from melting. Serve warm, possibly with clotted cream. Scones keep for a day or two in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.

A Deep Breath and a Potato Gratin Variation

Aahhhhhhhhhh.

A deep, cleansing sigh of relief. Now that Seared to Perfection has been out for a couple of weeks, I can tell you—I haven't exhaled since 2006, when I first came up with the idea. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I ever believed it would really happen until I finally held the finished book in my hands.

Dreaming up one hundred recipe ideas and then developing and testing them, writing the manuscript—that was the easy part. Finding an agent to represent me and then selling the book was tough. But the really hard part was turning everything over to the publisher and waiting. And waiting and waiting. And feeling like I had given up control. Of course I knew in my head that I was handing my work over to talented professionals who had my best interests at heart and who were obviously working very hard to make the book the best it could be, but still…

I was a nervous wreck when I received the initial revisions—I had to give myself at least twenty-four hours before opening email attachments, lest I take the changes personally. It didn't help that I never got to meet the editors in person and put faces with their names, or shake their hands. They're only three time zones away, but they seemed so distant they might as well have been on the moon. Email correspondence with only an occasional phone call can do that. I must admit that to this day, I'm still confused by all the different people with "Editor" after their name.

It was a rollercoaster ride. The deadline was reeled in, meaning I had to deliver the manuscript a few months early. A decision was made to include photographs. The book was to be released in the fall of 2009. The release was pushed back a year, the idea of photographs was scrapped. I told myself that an affordable book released after the economy recovered would be a good thing.

Then after a long hiatus another editor made contact, and the rounds of proofs began. I would lock myself in my office, red pen in hand, with only my computer to keep me company. Frenzied proofreading followed by periods of more waiting. I would get word of editors flip-flopping, changing "Give it a rest" to "Why does food need to rest?" and then back again (for the record, I still relish the win on that one). I would be consulted on recipe order or cover photos or book design and wonder if I was driving everyone crazy with my suggestions, requests, and nitpicking. "The bottom of the title page looked like a cayenne red in the PDF and it looks more like a maroon on the hard copy," I would complain.

By this time I was generally convinced that I was working with good people who could be reasoned with. They always respected my opinion, and the design surpassed my expectations. But a new fear gripped me—soon this thing I had labored over for the last four years of my life would be out there, for all the world to see and to criticize. My first look at the finished book was accompanied by excitement and also a bout of nausea.

Why did I get myself into this?

As it turns out, there was no need to panic. The first reader reviews on Amazon are exceedingly positive, and my searing cooking class at Clark College sold out. Helpful friends have taken it upon themselves to rearrange bookstore shelves to bring Seared to Perfection to eye level. And the book is even getting a bit of attention in the media! StarTribune.com featured the recipe for Chicken Breasts with Mushroom, Paprika, and Sour Cream Gravy, and here's the interview with yours truly in The Oregonian's FoodDay. My appearance on The Faith Middleton Show was a total love-fest and catapulted the book up to number six on Amazon's list of Bestsellers in Culinary Arts & Techniques. (For a while it even reached number ninety-four on Bestsellers in Cooking, Food & Wine and 1,324 in all books—I'm such a proud momma!) I'll be on KOIN Studio 6 between 4PM and 5PM on Friday, December 17th demonstrating a recipe from the book.

Would I do it all over again? Hell yes. Without a doubt. I'd jump at the chance. In fact, I have an idea for the perfect follow-up to Seared to Perfection. Let's hope my publisher goes for it.

Now that I've gotten all that off my chest, I really need some comfort food. So here's a seasonal variation of the Potato Gratin recipe in the book.


Butternut Squash & Potato Gratin
Printable Recipe

Unsalted butter, for greasing the baking dish
4 large (about 2 pounds) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick
1 1 ½-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/8-inch thick
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch nutmeg
1 clove garlic, grated
1 ¾ cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded Gruyère

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Generously butter a 12-inch oval baking dish. Season the potato and butternut squash slices to taste with salt and pepper. Layer them into the dish, arranging them in neat, overlapping circles and alternating layers of potato and squash. Stir the nutmeg and garlic into the cream and slowly pour over the potatoes and squash. Sprinkle evenly with the Gruyère. Bake for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours, or until the top is golden brown and the potatoes and squash are tender. Cover with foil to keep warm and allow to rest 20 to 25 minutes before serving.


Serves 6. Make this gratin in the fall, when butternut squash is abundant and rich food is welcome. Yukon gold potatoes will become creamy but retain their texture after cooking. A mandoline makes easy work of slicing potatoes, but I prefer to slice the squash with a chef’s knife. Season the gratin carefully before it goes into the oven because it’s hard to add salt and pepper once it is cooked. I toss the potato and squash slices with salt and pepper in a large bowls and taste a bit of each raw to check the amount of salt—they should taste slightly salty at this point for a perfect finished gratin—and spit it out. Minced fresh thyme or sage can be added along with the salt and pepper. Letting the gratin rest before serving makes it possible to cut neat portions.

A Taste of a Cooking Class

For those of you who’ve never been to one of my cooking classes, I just thought I’d give you a little taste…In a recent class entitled Hands-On Galettes and Crostatas I taught at Clark College, students learned to make these beauties.


I have a variety of fun and inspiring classes scheduled, and I hope to see you at one soon! Check out the Upcoming Cooking Classes sidebar on the right for class listings.

Butternut Squash & Roasted Garlic Crostata with Parmesan-Herb Cornmeal Crust
Printable Recipe

2 heads garlic
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 3 ¼ to 3 ½-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
¼ cup cornmeal
½ cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, shredded
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons, or more, cold water

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Cut the stem ends off the heads of garlic to expose the cloves within. Place the garlic in the center of a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and seal the foil tightly. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, or until meltingly tender and golden brown. Let cool to room temperature, peel, and mince to a paste, reserving the garlic oil for another use.

Toss together the butternut squash and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large bowl. Spread on a baking tray and roast for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until tender. Let cool to room temperature and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, ¼ cup of the Parmegiano, chives, and thyme in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water and pulse until the dough just comes together. Test the dough by squeezing a small amount together with your fingertips. If the dough holds together, it’s ready. If it’s crumbly, add up to 1 more tablespoon of water and pulse 2 more times. Transfer the dough to a work surface, bring together into a ball, and then flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 425˚F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a 14-inch wide, ¼-inch thick circle. Roll the dough up on the rolling pin and transfer it to a parchment-lined baking tray. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

Spread the roasted garlic evenly in the center of the dough circle, leaving a 2-inch border at the edge, and mound the squash on it. Fold the edge of the dough over the squash, pleating it as you go. Refrigerate for another 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the crostata with the remaining ¼ cup Parmegiano. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool slightly, cut into portions, and serve.

Makes 1 large crostata, serving 6 as a vegetarian main course. Perfect in the fall and winter, when butternut squash is abundant.

The Day After Thanksgiving

Did you have a happy and filling Thanksgiving? I know I did. After two-and-a-half days of frenzied cooking, one over-indulgent, seam-splitting meal, and a nearly insurmountable pile of dishes, I’m beat but content. I’m not cooking today, but I am looking forward to some very tasty leftovers…


Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Pesto
Printable Recipe

1 2 ½-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tablespoons white wine
1 ½ quarts water
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig Italian parsley
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup fresh sage leaves
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Toss together the butternut squash and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large bowl. Spread on a baking tray and roast for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until tender.

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onion and celery and sauté for 8 to 9 minutes, or until soft. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Add the butternut squash, water, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and cream and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the flavors come together.

Meanwhile, combine the sage, garlic, pine nuts, Parmegiano, and the remaining ¼ cup of oil in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Discard the bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig from the soup, remove from the heat, and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, drizzle with the pesto, and serve immediately.

Serves 6 as a first course. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender but remember: never fill a blender more than half way with hot liquid. This means you will need to blend the soup in batches and reheat it before serving. Fall flavors dance in a bowl of soup. Sage pesto with a generous amount of olive oil floats as a brilliant emerald garnish on the surface of the soup and adds needed richness, elevating the simple pottage to delicious heights. Pass the remaining pesto at the table for diners to stir into their soup as they desire. Leftover sage pesto, should there be any, would be great on turkey sandwiches. This is a vegetarian soup.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Call it dedication, call it the pursuit of perfection, or call me crazy.


Over the last three days I’ve made four batches of gnocchi so that I could give you the ultimate Butternut Squash Gnocchi recipe.


Butternut Squash Gnocchi
Printable Recipe

½ large butternut squash (about 2 ¼ pounds), seeded
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Place the butternut squash cut side down on a baking tray and roast for about 30 minutes. Turn and roast another 45 minutes, or until very tender. Let rest for about 15 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. Peel and puree in a food mill using a fine disc. Spread evenly on the baking tray and let cool to room temperature.

Transfer the butternut squash puree to a large bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in the flour. Transfer to a work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Cut the dough into eighths. Roll 1 portion of dough into a ½-inch thick rope and sprinkle lightly with flour. Using a bench knife, cut the rope into ½-inch pieces. Roll 1 side of each piece of dough against a lightly floured gnocchi board or the back of the tines of a fork, pressing the other side lightly with your thumb as you roll. Make more gnocchi with the remaining dough in the same manner. As you work, arrange the gnocchi in a single layer on lightly floured parchment-lined baking trays. Let dry for up to 2 hours.

Cook the gnocchi in 2 or 3 batches in a large pot of boiling, salted water, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface of the water. Remove the gnocchi from the pot using a wire skimmer. Serve immediately as desired.


Serves 4 as a main course. Select a 4 ½-pound butternut squash and use the second half for another purpose. The key to making light, fluffy gnocchi is to drive off as much of the moisture from the butternut squash as possible during roasting and cooling and to incorporate as little flour into the dough as possible. It seems that the squash puree absorbs the least flour if it’s left to cool at room temperature for at least a couple of hours. The dough will be a bit soft and sticky, but it should be smooth and fairly easy to knead and form. Keep your hands, work surface, tools, and dough lightly floured as you work but avoid adding excess flour.


Serve the gnocchi tossed with plain butter, brown butter and sage, or your favorite pasta sauce and sprinkled with grated Parmegiano-Reggiano. Perfect in the fall when squash is abundant. Uncooked gnocchi may be frozen in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking tray and transferred to a zip-top bag when frozen solid. Gnocchi keep for several weeks frozen. Cook them straight from the freezer—do not thaw.

Cobweb Cupcakes

Halloween is just around the corner! Here’s the perfect treat for the spooky season…hope you’re not afraid of spiders!


Pumpkin Cobweb Cupcakes
Printable Recipe

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
15 ounces pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
½ cup heavy cream
1 ounce white chocolate, chopped or 2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on high for 3 to 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined. Blend together the pumpkin puree and water in a medium bowl. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then ½ of the pumpkin mixture, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the remaining ½ of the pumpkin mixture, and then the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low for only a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the edges of the cupcakes start to shrink away from the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Bring the cream to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Place the white chocolate into a small bowl and the semisweet chocolate into a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the hot cream to the white chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining hot cream to the semisweet chocolate and whisk until smooth. Let cool until thickened slightly.

Dip the top of a cupcake into the semisweet chocolate ganache and, while still holding it upside down over the bowl, give the cupcake a few abrupt shakes so that any excess ganache drips off. Transfer the white chocolate ganache to a paper cone and pipe a swirl pattern over the semisweet ganache on the cupcake. To complete the web design, draw the tip of a toothpick through the ganache from the center to the edge of the cupcake 8 or 9 times, wiping off the tip of the toothpick between each swipe, in a pattern of evenly spaced radiating lines. Glaze the remaining cupcakes with the remaining ganache in the same manner.


Makes 24 cupcakes. Cupcakes keep for 2 to 3 days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place. Leftover ganache will keep for a week tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Reheat it gently using the microwave or a double boiler and serve it as a sauce or use it to make hot chocolate or mochas.

Not Pumpkin Pie

I confess, I don’t like pumpkin pie. Even if I liked pumpkin pie, I couldn’t possibly eat a whole slice after Thanksgiving dinner, unless I wanted to know what the stuffed turkey felt like.


Pumpkin Crème Brûlées
Printable Recipe

2 ½ cups heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
6 ounces pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup Turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Heat the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Whisk together the yolks and sugar in a medium bowl. Continue whisking while adding the hot cream in a thin stream. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Stir in the pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and skim off any foam from the surface. Divide the mixture among 8 crème brûlée dishes and place them into a roasting pan. Add enough hot water to the roasting pan to come half way up the sides of the crème brûlée dishes and bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until just set. Remove from the water bath and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours, or until firm.

Top 1 crème brûlée with 1 ½ teaspoons of the Turbinado sugar and swirl to coat. Caramelize the sugar with a culinary torch. Finish the remaining crème brûlées with the remaining Turbinado sugar in the same manner. Serve immediately.

Serves 8. Canned pumpkin puree is perfect for this recipe. You can tell that the crème brûlées are done when they jiggle like gelatin. If you don’t have crème brûlée dishes, you can use ramekins, but they will take slightly longer to bake. And if you don’t have a culinary torch, you can caramelize the sugar topping under a preheated broiler. Crème brûlées may be baked a day or two in advance and kept covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Add Turbinado sugar and caramelize just before serving.