Chickpea Pancakes With Leeks, Squash

Ingredients
SERVINGS: 4
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium leek, white and pale-green parts only, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated peeled squash
1 large egg
¾ cup chickpea flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:
Optional: Cook vegetables first:
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet, over medium-high. Add leek, season with kosher salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until leek is softened and starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add squash and season again. Cook, stirring often, until squash is cooked through and softened, about 4 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a plate and let cool.

In the meantime, combine all batter ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside for a few minutes to allow the chickpea flour to hydrate, then combine the chickpea batter with (sautéed?) veggies.

Heat 1½ Tbsp. oil in reserved skillet over medium heat; do not over-heat skillet. Add ¼ cup batter, gently flattening to about ¼” thick. Batter should spread easily (if it doesn’t, thin with a little water). Cook until bottoms are lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Use a spatula to carefully flip pancakes over and cook until browned and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Serve pancakes topped with yogurt (or a substitute, for dairy-free), parsley, kosher salt, and fresh pepper.

DO AHEAD: Leek and squash can be cooked 2 days ahead; cover and chill. Batter can be made 1 day ahead; cover and chill.

Comment: Consider more seasoning: perhaps chili powder, curry powder, a touch of spicy pepper (careful there!).

Personal Ham & Pumpkin Quiche

Per serving:
A 6" ramekin. Or an oven-safe cereal bowl.
2 fresh eggs, large
2 TBSP milk
1 thin (1/4") homemade bread.
2 oz or so of chopped ham
1 TBSP chopped leek
1/3 cup shredded pumpkin
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
thin slices of summer sausage.
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Instructions:

Coat ramekin generously in olive oil.
Cut the bread to fit snugly in the bottom of the ramekin.
Whip eggs by hand. Add milk and whip by hand until smooth and even.
Stir in ham, leek, pumpkin, Jack cheese. Add to ramekin, on top of bread.
Top with summer sausage (or julienne and add to mixture) and Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 400 degrees until the top begins to brown (about 15 minutes)
Cover with tinfoil and continue baking until a fork comes out clean.

Alden Family Lemon Banana Ice Cream

Apparently this is is a family tradition.

Ingredients (my version):


2 lemons, peeled very well.
2 oranges, peeled very well.
2 bananas, peeled.
1 cup sugar.
2 cups half & half.

Process: 

Load everything except the half & half into the blender. Set blender on high for several minutes: until everything is completely blended, and then let it blend some more. We want this extremely smooth.

Stop blender. Add half & half. Blend on lowest setting for a few seconds, until it's well mixed together.

Load it into the ice cream maker and fire it up. This takes a little longer to freeze than some.

The original recipe called for the juice of the lemons and the oranges. I used the whole fruit, since the blender did such a good job of reducing the substance to liquid. 

This is really good. Got some zing to it. I might add a little vanilla to it next time, to round it off. 

Good with cookies, or dark chocolate. 

Steak Better Than Barbecue

Start with excellent cuts of meat, more than an inch thick. We used Porterhouse, and we cooked two of them.

Season in advance: we used pink Himalayan salt (freshly ground), smoked salt, and freshly ground pepper. Be a little bit generous.

IMPORTANT: Let the meat warm to room temperature while the seasonings are on it, soaking into it. Allow half an hour or more.

Select a cast iron frying pan that’s large enough for steaks you’re cooking to fit comfortably, with plenty of breathing room between steaks, and between the meat and the sides of the pan.

Preheat the frying pan in the oven. Get it very hot. Either leave the frying pan in the oven as you preheat the oven to 500F, or set the oven to broil on high for ten minutes with the frying pan on the top rack.

When the frying pan is very hot, remove it from the oven and place it on a hot burner on the stove (again: on high). Leave the oven hot (500F). Sear the seasoned steaks for 30 seconds on each side: there will be sizzling. There will also be smoke: take precautions against setting off the fire alarm.

Return the hot frying pan with the steaks to the oven. For rare, bake two minutes on each side. Cook slightly longer for other preferences.

Remove the steaks from the oven and from the frying pan; let them rest on a plate for at least two minutes (up to ten minutes). 

Serve with appropriate side dishes and beverages. Enjoy. 

Strange Green Smoothie

 

1½ very ripe bananas

1 cup milk

1 leaf kale

2 carrots, shredded

¼ cup raw cashews

¼ cup peanuts

½ cup white raisins

The carrots and the nuts are a new experience for me. I’m discovering what appear to me to be strange flavors that work well together.

This was quite good, and pretty filling. Guess I'd better experiment some more. 

Veggie Heavy Scrambled Eggs

Service for One

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
2 fresh eggs
2 fresh carrots, grated.
1 leaf fresh kale, julienned
2 leaves fresh sage, julienned
¼ fresh bell pepper, grated or julienned
1 tsp roasted garlic powder
1 tsp roasted onion powder
¼ tsp (or to taste) pepper powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp oat bran
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese (or substitute with goat cheese)

Directions:

Fried veggies, just before adding eggs & cheese.

Heat (cast iron) frying pan. Stir veggies, seasonings and bran in a bowl to mix evenly.
Add oil and veggies to the hot pan. Fry until much of the moisture is gone. Crack eggs into vegetables, and add parmesan. Break yolks and stir briefly.

A side of toast, and a cup of coffee make this complete.

Who knew that carrots were good in eggs. But they’re pretty yummy!

Butternut Squash Fettuccine Alfredo

Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups diced butternut squash (about half a squash)

- 1 cup of vegetable stock.

- Butter (4 Tbsp.)

- One small onion (1 cup diced)

- Rosemary (1 Tbsp.)

- Sage (1 Tbsp.)

- Low-fat Milk (4 cups)

- Parmesan (1 cup, plus more for topping)

- Brown Sugar (2 Tbsp.)

- Nutmeg (1/4 tsp)

- Salt and pepper (to taste)

- Water (2 cups)

- Fettuccine noodles (1 16oz box)

Directions:

Melt 4 Tbsp. of butter. Add 1 cup of diced onion, 1 Tbsp. of Rosemary and 1 Tbsp. of Sage. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat until onions soften. Then cook on medium-high heat until the butter begins to brown (be careful not to burn it). Add in 3 cups of diced butternut squash and 1 cup of vegetable stock, stir, then cover and cook for 15 minutes (until butternut squash is softened).

Uncover and mash with a potato masher until you’ve squished all the squash. Add 2 cups of milk and stir. Then, add 1 cup of Parmesan and stir. Add 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and stir until well blended.

You can either cook your pasta beforehand in the pot and set it aside, or cook it in the sauce! Break fettuccine noodles in half and place in the sauce. Carefully cover the noodles with sauce. Then, pour in 2 more cups of milk and 2 cups of water and stir. (Add more water, if needed, to smooth out the sauce.) Stir the pasta continuously (to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot) and cook for 15-20 minutes (or until pasta has reached desired texture)

From  http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-butternut-squash-fettucine-alfredo-238127