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Roasted Squash Hummus {CtBF} #EverydayDorie
Today we have another installment from Dorie Greenspan’s newest book Everyday Dorie. As the Cook the Book Fridays group continues to finish up David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen, with the publication of Dorie’s latest in October, we plan to work in parallel and add one recipe from Dorie’s book each month until we can switch our full attention over.
Last week, Dorie visited the Boston area on her book tour. Lucky for me, I met up with Tricia and Lisa at the Harvard Book Store to hear Dorie interviewed by food writer (and long-time friend of Dorie’s) Corby Kummer, followed by a book signing and the requisite photos. It was a delight to meet Dorie again, and I’m always surprised and flattered that she recognizes and remembers me.
Dorie and Me
Tricia, Dorie and Me
This week’s recipe choice from Everyday Dorie is the Roasted Squash Hummus. I love traditional hummus made with chickpeas. I’m intrigued by variations that incorporate other vegetables. I’ve made a beet hummus, which was way to sweet. Winter squash is a favorite here, so I was interested to try Dorie’s version.
First, you roast an acorn squash, not too big, not too small. I liked the technique of quartering the squash and brushing it with olive oil seasoned with salt, pepper, and a touch of cayenne before roasting flesh side down, then briefly broiling, flesh side up to slight char the squash. Once tender, the flesh is scooped out and mashed to make a purée. The base itself was quite delicious.
There are no chickpeas in this hummus, but the typical add-ins, tahini and lemon juice, are added along with a few Mediterranean surprises, za’atar (a sumac, thyme, sesame seed mixture) and pomegranate molasses.
I like all the ingredients, so I wish I could say I liked this version of hummus. Alas, I did not. Howard didn’t either. To begin with the color was off-putting, but the kicker was that the taste was weird. I’m not sure why but we just didn’t find it appealing. Oh well. I won’t hold it against Dorie or her new book. I know there are more delicious dishes in store. Onward to the next recipe!
Maybe my Cook the Book Fridays friends liked it better. You can find out by following their links here.
Pound Cake and Panade #MyParisKitchen {CtBF}
The end of the year is coming fast, and November has been crazy! I had a quick visit to Philadelphia to meet up with my sisters for a happy family event. We packed in the activities, as we always do. Our mother was not one to sit still, and she trained us to be the same way.
Me with My Sisters
I really like cake, plain simple unfrosted cakes. I could take or leave birthday cakes or other layered cakes, but I always enjoy a pound cake, a Bundt cake, or any kind of one layer cake. A simple glaze or a dusting of powdered sugar makes them complete, no fussing required. For Howard, I think it’s all about the frosting as he never gets excited when I make a cake, so they are usually relegated to occasions where I’m having just my friends over or bake something to bring somewhere else.
My favorite bakery cake is the Vanilla Bean Pound Cake made by Hi-Rise Bakery in Cambridge. They are regulars at the Lexington Farmers’ Market and, in season, I treat myself to a slice about once a month. The genius of their cake is that it’s soaked in vanilla-infused simple syrup, making the outside crust magical. Eating an end piece with its extra crust is just heaven. I’ve never made it myself, but here’s the recipe.
Right before I left, I made David Lebovitz’s Bay Leaf Pound Cake, the first November challenge recipe for Cook the Book Fridays. I did NOT need a whole cake. I had nowhere to bring it that week. So, I minified it. I made one-third of the recipe (dividing by the eggs, of course) to fill one small loaf pan – a personal pound cake.
This cake is a little different than a traditional pound cake recipe because rather than creaming the butter, the butter is melted. In this case, the butter is then infused with bay leaves to add some depth of flavor. A couple of bay leaves are also set on the bottom of the pan to add more bay flavoring.
“Line of Creamed Butter”
We are also instructed to squeeze a line of soft butter on top of the cake to enhance a decorative crack. It could be because of my smaller pan, but that didn’t happen on my cake.
Uncracked Cake
The final touch was an orange glaze. The cake’s predominant flavor was orange. Even with the infused butter and extra leaves, I didn’t notice the bay flavoring at all. Overall, this was a lovely cake, small enough for me to eat a daily slice for a few days. It wasn’t interesting enough to make again, though I did enjoy it while it lasted.
The second recipe for Cook the Book Fridays is Panade de Butternut (Butternut Squash Bread Soup). To read the C&C (comments and concerns) post for this recipe, it wasn’t getting a lot of love, so I was a bit wary.
The recipe took a bit of advanced planning. David recommends homemade stock for this one. We were finishing up a whole chicken, so that was easy enough with a carcass on hand. I’ve been making stock in the slow cooker for the past few years which is so simple. Sourdough bread was also required. My sourdough starter needed a workout this week, so I managed to bake my own loaf to use. Stock? Check! Bread? Check! I was ready to go.
Homemade Sourdough
This panade is a layering of caramelized onions, toasted sourdough bread, sliced butternut squash, chopped thyme and sage, and grated cheese doused with the homemade chicken stock. I halved the recipe for our household. I must have sliced the bread too thickly because there wasn’t nearly enough to fully cover the pan for even two layers, and the recipe called for three. That means I had three layers of squash and just two of bread, which was fine.
Soup? Bread Pudding? Casserole? Whatever… Delicious!
As the panade baked, the bread absorbed all the stock, so the result was more like bread pudding than soup. It also reminded me of a lighter version of the filling for a stuffed pumpkin I’ve made. Whatever it was, it was delicious! All the flavors of fall combined into one hearty dish. It would be a wonderful alternative to stuffing for the Thanksgiving table. On the downside, if I’m being honest, even though I really liked it, in my opinion, it was a lot more work than it was worth.
Judge for yourself! Recipes for both the pound cake (page 296) and the panade (page 163) can be found in David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen. My friends from Cook the Book Fridays made these too. You can find their reviews for the cake here and the panade here.
A Plateful of Happiness 