Sausage and Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

I have always admired the beautiful squash blossoms I see in my backyard and at my local farmers' market. But after all this time, it wasn't until last week that I finally bought some and brought them home, determined to stuff and fry them. 

I was planning on serving these for lunch with a simple salad and wanted to do more than just stuff them with goat cheese. I had recently picked up some delicious sweet Italian sausage that I threw into the mix to get something more substantial. Get creative with this recipe. Goat cheese is such a great background for so many flavors!

Sausage and Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

12 squash blossoms

4 oz goat cheese

1 sweet Italian sausage

1/4 t celery salt, divided

1 - 2 cups vegetable oil for frying

1 egg

3/4 cup flour

Remove the sausage from its casing and cook, breaking apart into small pieces as you go. Allow the sausage to cool, mix together with the goat cheese and a pinch of celery salt. Set aside.  

Remove the internal stem and pollen from the blossoms and rinse the exterior to remove any dirt. Whisk egg in a bowl and place flour in a second bowl. Heat about a 1/2" of oil in a cast iron skillet for frying. Stuff each blossom with 1 T of cheese mixture. Dip each blossom in the egg and then dredge in the flour. Shallow fry a few blossoms at a time to keep from overcrowding the pan. Once golden brown, remove to paper towels to drain and sprinkle with a little more celery salt while still hot. Serve on their own as an appetizer or over a salad for a light lunch. Enjoy!

Sage and Orange Infused Acorn Squash Creme Caramel

This month's Royal Foodie Joust called on all of us Foodie Blog Rollers to come up with a dish that incorporated oranges, sage and acorn squash - a very interesting flavor combination. At first I was stumped. Having never even cooked with acorn squash before, I knew this was going to take some thought. Plenty of pumpkin and butternut squash have passed through my oven, but never an acorn squash.

When I started brainstorming, I wanted to figure out something that would really let both the orange and sage flavors shine through in the main component of the dish and not just as an afterthought. After mulling over several ideas, I set out to create an acorn squash creme caramel. The sage would be steeped in simmering milk to infuse its flavor into the dish and the fresh-squeezed orange juice would be added to the acorn squash puree. Both flavors shined through in the finished product. To check out the Royal Foodie Joust, or to join The Foodie Blog Roll, head on over to the The Left Over Queen. I highly recommend it!

Sage and Orange Infused Acorn Squash Creme Caramel

Makes 6

1 cup sugar, divided

pinch of cream of tartar

2 T water

1 1/2 cups cream

3/4 cup milk

6 sage leaves roughly chopped + more for serving

1 cup roasted acorn squash flesh

1 egg + 2 egg yolks

4 T orange juice

6 orange segments for serving

Preheat Oven to 325*

Bring 2/3 cup sugar, cream of tartar and water to a boil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. When sugar mixture begins to brown lightly, remove from heat and mixture will continue to cook until a caramel color is achieved. Pour sugar mixture into six five-oz ramekins to cover the bottom (Note: You may not use all of the sugar mixture depending on the width of your ramekins).

Place milk and cream in a medium sauce pan and bring mixture just to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in chopped sage leaves. Set aside to steep. Combine eggs, egg yolks and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a bowl. Puree the acorn squash in a blender to get a smooth consistency. Combine squash with sugar and egg mixture. Once milk mixture has cooled, strain it into the acorn squash mixture and mix to combine. Pour custard into the prepared ramekins until 4/5 full. Place ramekins in a water bath and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until only a slight jiggle remains on top of the custards when you move the pan. Place custards in the refrigerator and cool for at least 12 hours and up to two days. Turn upside down on a plate to unmold, dipping the ramekins in hot water for a few seconds to loosen if necessary. Top unmolded creme caramels with orange segments and sage leaves to serve. Enjoy!

Soy Ginger Chicken

I am always looking for new ways to cook chicken. It's such a convenience meat - not too expensive and easy to keep around. So when I saw this recipe on Everyday Food's site, I couldn't wait to try it. Having a momentary lapse in judgement and forgetting that the boyfriend doesn't always dig the Asian flavors, I decided to make this for our Saturday night dinner. True to form, he was not a huge fan. He thought it was fine and ate it, but this won't likely be making it into regular rotation. I, on the other hand, loved it. The soy sauce and cilantro flavors really come through in the chicken, and the meat gets to that magical place of tenderizing and falling off the bone. Delicious. The original recipe was clearly lacking some stock or other cooking liquid from the ingredient list so I've added two cups of chicken stock to the mix.

Soy Ginger Chicken

Adapted from Everyday Food

Serves 2

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 T brown sugar

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2/3 cup chopped cilantro

1 small piece ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips

1 T balsamic vinegar

1/2 t ground pepper

2 cups chicken stock

5 scallions, thinly sliced

2 chicken quarters, skin removed and leg and thigh cut apart

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 325*

Combine first eight ingredients and half the scallions in a medium dutch oven and stir to combine. Place chicken and carrots in the pot and stir to coat. Place in the oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes until the chicken starts to fall of the bone. Continue cooking if necessary. Mix cornstarch with 1 T water. Remove the pot from the oven and ladle one cup of cooking liquid into a a small saucepan. Mix the cornstarch slurry into the cooking liquid and cook until simmering and thickened. Return the thickened cooking liquid to the pot and mix. Divide chicken and sauce between two bowls of white rice and enjoy!

Sweet Corn and Chicken Pizza

It may be a product of growing up in California with California Pizza Kitchen, but I'm a sucker for non-traditional pizza ingredients. Whether you call it flatbread, pizza or crostini, if it involves dough, cheese and off-base ingredients, I'm there. 

I can still remember my first meal at a California Pizza Kitchen. It was sometime in the eighties at the (original?) location in Brentwood. My Aunt Linda had taken my brother and I off my parents' hands for a night and was taking us to this cool, new restaurant. We decided on a BLT pizza, but then tried to confuse the waiter by adding in a few more letters for ingredients we wanted to throw into the mix. Not only were they going to bring us a BLT pizza complete with mayonnaise dressing on the lettuce, but they were going to throw in some avocado and other toppings we had requested. I was sold.

To this day, I love dressing up quick tortilla pizzas with unique ingredients. My current favorite is sweet corn. It gives you that wonderful sweet/savory thing going on with the pizza and the tortillas are easy to keep on hand and require no pre-baking. Talk about a quick dinner? This is it.

Sweet Corn and Chicken Pizzas

Serves 2 - 4 depending on your eaters

2 flour tortillas

1/2 cup marinara sauce

1 cup shredded chicken

1/2 cup sweet corn

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat broiler

Spread 1/4 cup marinara and 2 T cheese over each tortilla. Divide shredded chicken and corn between each tortilla and top with remaining cheese, 1/4 cup for each tortilla. Place under the broiler for five minutes until starting to brown on top. Cut into wedges and enjoy!

Shrimp and Orzo Salad

I am slightly obsessed with lobster rolls. Having never had the pleasure of actually eating one of these delicacies that I imagine are abundantly available as soon as you step off the plane in someplace like Boston or anywhere in Maine, they are starting to reach mythical existence in my mind.

Every-now-and-then the craving gets bad enough that I have to make something that I imagine to be similar, almost immediately. This orzo salad was the result of one such craving. I added shrimp and crisp celery to some cooked orzo and dressed the whole thing with a mayonnaise horseradish mixture. It absolutely hit the spot. Possibly more so than anything I've made to try and quell these cravings in the past. One day, I will eat a lobster roll on the East Coast. Until then, this salad will certainly suffice.

Shrimp and Orzo Salad

1 cup orzo

6 colossal shrimp

4 stalks celery, diced

2 T mayonnaise

2 T light sour cream

1 T creamed horseradish

1/2 t salt

Boil water, add the orzo and cook for 9 minutes. Add the shrimp to the water and cook until pink. Drain the pasta and shrimp and set aside. When the shrimp is cool enough to handle, chop. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, horseradish and salt together and add the dressing to the pasta along with the chopped shrimp and celery. Stir to combine and add more salt to taste. Enjoy!

White Bean Chili

I'm not a big chili-maker. To be honest, I haven't been much of a chili eater either. Since it takes so much time to get a beefy chili cooked down to deliciousness, I just don't make it at home very much. Don't get me wrong, if it's something I love, I will put all the time necessary into a dish, but chili just isn't one of those dishes for me.

I've seen a lot of white bean chili recipes lately and realizing that I could use chicken to make a lighter chili, I decided to make my own at home. The results were delicious. Next time, I'm making a pot of polenta so I can serve the chili on top.

White Bean Chili

1 T vegetable oil

1 can white kidney beans

2 chicken breasts

2 cups chicken stock

1 large onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

3 t chili powder

1 T tabasco sauce

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t salt

scallions for serving

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed skillet or dutch oven and add the onion and garlic. Saute for five minutes and add the chili powder, tabasco sauce, cumin and salt. Continue to saute, stirring regularly and adding a bit of the stock if necessary to keep the onion mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken breasts in the pan and allow to sear on both sides. Add the remaining stock and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool. Add the kidney beans and continue to simmer. When the chicken is cool to the touch, shred it and return to the pot. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning to taste. Divide between four serving bowls, top with scallions and enjoy!

Maldon Sea Salt

I have what you might call an arsenal of salts. Sea salt, kosher salt, flavored salts, fine salt and even good old Morton's. I never met a salt I didn't like. Black lava salt from Maui? I'm totally there. 

If you have yet to try Maldon Sea Salt, I highly recommend you go out and find a box right now. It's not a cheap salt at $8 - $12 a box, depending on where you get it, but since it's generally used as a finishing salt, a box will last you a long time.

Most of the salt flakes come in the shape of little pyramids and have an amazing crunch when you bite into them. I like to sprinkle them over meat right after cooking and have even been known to sprinkle one or two flakes over freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. That salty crunch as you bite into something sweet and chocolaty is absolutely amazing.

You can find more information on Maldon's web site here. I used to only be able to find it at specialty shops, but I have started to see it at Whole Foods and some other major retailers. What are your favorite salts or seasonings that you couldn't live without in the kitchen?

Cream Scones

I was perusing some of my favorite blogs the other day and came across a wonderful scone recipe at La Bella Cook. I immediately started craving them and after putting water on for a pot of tea, I started making them.

The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan and I, along with Bridgett at La Bella Cook, left out the currants. I like to add flavor to my scones with what I serve alongside them. Today it was a blueberry spread, butter and sage honey. Had I had any clotted cream on hand, it definitely would have made the mix. The final piece to this delicious breakfast was a large pot of PG Tips. Enjoy!

Cream Scones

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

1 egg

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 cups flour

2 T sugar plus more for dusting

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

5 T butter, cubed and chilled

Preheat oven to 400*

Mix egg and cream together and set aside. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until crumbs form. Turn out into a bowl and pour the wet ingredients over. Gently fold together with a spatula until just combined (do not over mix). Turn dough out onto a board dusted with flour and form into a circle. Cut the circle into 6 - 8 wedges and transfer to a baking sheet lined with a silpat or sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 22 minutes and cool slightly before serving and enjoy!