Cakes & Cooking » sides

Roasted Butternut Squash

cait — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Winter is a time for squash. I don’t care for the stringy-ness of acorn squash as much, but the sweet flavor of butternut squash is to die for. It is so easy to make and needs almost no preparation (just a long baking time).

1 butternut squash – any size
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Peel and cube the squash into 3/4 inch chunks. Toss with the olive oil. Lay on a baking sheet, sprinkle liberally with pepper and conservatively with salt. Bake at 425 for 45 minutes, turning occasionally.

Slow Cooker Chunky Applesauce

cait — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Nothing says “fall” like the smell of baking things with apples. Apple pie, apple crisp, apple compote, anything. The bad news is that they are all full of fat and sugar, you just can’t go right with flaky pie crust or cripsy oatmeal topping. But you CAN go right with homemade spicy applesauce – all the warm cinnamon apple goodness without any added fats or sugars. All you need is a crockpot.

Apples – peeled and sliced (I use 8lbs of apples to fill a 7qt crock pot, adjust as needed)
Cinnamon – 1 tsp for every 4-5 lbs of apples or so
Sugar (optional) – 1/8 cup for ever 4-5 lbs of apples

Peel and slice the apples. Toss with the cinnamon and sugar. Put everything in the crockpot with 1/4 cup of water. Cook on low heat for 6-7 hours (overnight works wonderfully), stirring towards the end. Serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad (with Honey-Lime Salmon)

cait — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:40:00 +0000

This is a tasty, sweet and spicy, soft and crunchy warm salad. I’m not a huge fan of salmon but this would be excellent alongside chicken made in the same honey-lime marinade….someone pointed me to this recipe in a Rachael Ray cookbook, and I am always up for new salads and sides.

The red pepper in this recipe kicks it up quite a few notches – if you don’t like spicy things cut the red pepper flakes in half, or omit all together. If you like spice, then flame away!

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin (1/3 palmful)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons honey (3 gobs)
1 teaspoon chili powder (1/3 palmful)
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
1 (10-ounce) box frozen corn kernels, defrosted
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
6 cups baby spinach

Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil (twice around the pan). Add the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. (this will be your salad skillet)
While the onions are cooking, preheat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
In a shallow dish, combine the juice of 1 lime, honey, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the salmon fillets to the lime-honey mixture and toss to coat thoroughly. Add the seasoned salmon to the hot skillet and cook until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. (if you are not for salmon, use the marinade to cook chicken or other fish – shrimp would be good too- however you like)
To the cooked onions, add the bell pepper and corn kernels and cook for 1 minute.
Add the chicken (I use vegetable) stock and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the black beans and cook until the beans are just heated through.
Remove the skillet from the heat and add the juice of the second lime, the cilantro and the spinach. Toss to wilt the spinach and then taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve the lime-and-honey-glazed salmon on top of the warm black bean and corn salad.

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

cait — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:12:00 +0000

One of the easiest (though with the baking time not necessarily the quickest) side dishes one can come up with is roasted potatoes. Particularly if you use new potatoes, or small creamers – they usually have few eyes and imperfections and not a lot of dirt to be scrubbed, so they can just be chopped in half quickly. But they are simple and tasty and always a hit with the meat-and-potatoes crowed (namely, my husband).

If you don’t have these herbs or spices handy, improvise and make your own. Just be sure that you are generous with the salt and the cracked pepper.

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

2-3 lbs of red or gold new potatoes, creamers, or small yukon golds
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
2 generous tablespoons of parsley – dried, or chopped fresh
1 tbsp NaCl
several peppermill twists of cracked pepper – probably equaling 2 tbsp or so
pinch or two of dried rosemary
sprinkle of garlic salt or 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Rinse (or wash if they are super dirty) the potatoes and dig out any eyes and peel out any bad spots, leaving as much skin intact as possible.

For smaller potatoes, cut them in half – for larger new potatoes (larger meaning length of more than 2 inches or so) cut them into quarters. Put the cut potatoes in a large mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil and spices until evenly coated. Spread the coated potatoes evenly on a dark baking sheet and bake in the oven at 400 for 40-45 minutes, or until done.

If you have so many potatoes that a single layer on the baking sheet isn’t possible, use two sheets! In the photo below I am obviously heavy on the parsley (because I like it), so if yours don’t look quite so “herbed” that is just fine. You can serve them straight out of the oven, or top with a pat of butter if you like. Leftovers are great in the morning alongside scrambled eggs!