Butternut Squash Tarte Tatin

If you're like me, you've had your share of killing time waiting in a doctor's reception room. Sometimes however, there are magazines to read that don't date back to the Nixon era and from which I can glean some good recipes. 

Since butternut squash is one of my favorite vegetables, and the season is upon us, this twist on the classic tarte tatin made with butternut squash, rather than the traditional apples, caught my eye while I waited for my name to be called during a recent appointment.

It starts out with roasting half moons of butternut squash, seasoned with herbs, salt and pepper.

The roasted squash is delicious as is, just out of the oven as a side dish, but this recipe, with a hint of honey, transforms it into something special.

Layer the slices in an oven-proof skillet (cast iron is best), overlapping the edges slightly.

Fill in the center with another piece of squash.

Place a piece of puff pastry on top, and pierce holes into it with a fork.

Bake in the oven until golden,then carefully flip onto a plate.

It's a side dish fit for your Thanksgiving meal - or your family's everyday dinner table.
Now if only I could find a recipe this good each time I'm sitting in the doctor's reception room, I might not complain about that last one hour wait!

Want more Ciao Chow Linda? Check out my Instagram page here to see more of what I'm cooking up each day. 

You can also connect with Ciao Chow Linda here on Facebook, here for Pinterest or  here for Twitter. 

Butternut Squash Tarte Tatin

printable recipe here

from Shape.com

1 (1 1/2 pounds) butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 1/4 inch-thick half moons

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

salt

fresh rosemary, finely minced

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

3 T. unsalted butter (I used two)

1 t. lemon zest

1 T. lemon juice

1/3 cup honey

-Preheat the oven to 400 degree. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment. On the prepared pan, toss squash with oil, a pinch of salt, and about 3/4 of the rosemary. Spread in an even layer and roast until browned and tender, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly on a plate.

-Meanwhile, cut the pastry into a round the same size as the top of a 9 to 10-inch cast iron skillet. Place on parchment paper and refrigerate.

-Melt butter in the cast iron skillet over medium heat. Stir in lemon zest and juice, honey and remaining rosemary. Remove from heat and when squash is done, drizzle most of it over the squash, leaving a thick layer in the bottom of the skillet.

-Arrange squash in concentric circle in the skillet over the remaining butter mixture. Scrape any juices from the plate into the skillet. Place the pastry over the squash, and prick with a fork all around.

-Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. (I omitted this step because I was impatient.) Wearing oven mitts, center a serving dish over the skillet and carefully flip both together, then lift the skillet off the taste. Garnish with rosemary, if desired.

Wedding Cookie "cake" and "S" Cookies

My son Michael got married last Saturday, and like any good Italian-American mother, I offered to make him and Beth (his bride) a wedding cookie cake for the reception. 

Decades ago, you couldn't go to a wedding reception in an Italian-American family without seeing trays of cookies for the guests, alongside a multi-tiered traditional wedding cake. They also include a scattering of Jordan almonds, or "confetti" as Italians call them.

I was dubious about whether this was truly an Italian custom, and I got my answer after attending a couple of weddings in Italy on my mother's side of the family - the Northern Italian side. Nobody there seems to follow this tradition, at least not my mom's relatives.

But one year when I was in Abruzzo, cousins of my late husband were busy baking up all sorts of cookies for a wedding tray - cookies that included the delicious bocconotti - recipe here.

I never got around to making the bocconotti for this wedding tray, but I did make anginetti, Italian Christmas "brownies", chocolate biscotti and sfratti, an Italian Jewish cookie.

My friend Lilli agreed to make her wonderful almond paste cookie, and I included those on the tray, and in another separate display.

And of course we had to have pizzelle. My father's wife, Rose, graciously offered to make them - and she outdid herself, making about 150 in total. They merited their own separate tray since they are so fragile.

I also wanted to make "S" cookies, or "esse" in Italian. I've eaten them in Frascati and in Rome, and loved them so much I've brought them home with me, but never quite found a recipe that came close to what I've eaten there.  These, a recipe from Mary Ann Esposito, are almost identical - a crispy sugar cookie that keeps its crunch.

Since the bride and groom's initials are M and B, I thought I'd experiment with those initials too. They were a little trickier to shape and not so successful, so I went back to the "S" shape, but made sure to place the "M's" and "B's" on top. Another way they're baked is in a figure "8." Just make whatever shape you like.

The cookies added a nice extra something to the dessert table, featuring a most unusual cake topper.

 

It's a sculpture of the bride and groom, Beth eating a doughnut and Michael eating gelato. Ever the animal lovers, at their feet are their two cats, Walter and Mervin.

On the way out, guests each took home a personalized bottle of limoncello - all made by Michael months before the wedding, with a photo of the two of them on the label.

And here's the happy couple just after they took their vows.
Auguroni and mazeltov to my favorite newlyweds!
#Live long and Prospero!

"Esse" or "S" Cookies

recipe from "Celebrations Italian Style" by Mary Ann Esposito

printable recipe here



3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup solid vegetable shortening, melted and cooled (I used butter)

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon vanilla

coarse sugar for topping



-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

-In another bowl, whisk the legs with the sugar until light and lemon-colored. Whisk in the shortening, lemon juice and vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, mixing well to blend the ingredients. Let batter sit, covered, for five minutes.

-Fill a tipless pastry bag two thirds full of the batter to form 3-inch long Ss or 8s on cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart, and shape each one into a 3-inch long S, using the back of the spoon. (I didn't bother shaping with a spoon. They spread out in the oven quite a bit. Also, at this point, I sprinkled with coarse decorating sugar. If you don't have any, use plain granulated sugar.

-Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until pale golden in color. Watch carefully and rotate the sheets to prevent burning. Let the cookies cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing to cooling racks.

Good Gut Granola

Summer vacations are long over, school is in full swing, and it's back to rushing out the door first thing in the morning. 

What about breakfast? Still reaching for those packaged cereals filled with additives or tons of sugar? Most of those store-bought granolas - and even some of the home made ones - are heavy on the sugar content, reducing any benefits you might have imagined you were getting.

Not this recipe, which contains a lot of dietary fiber but eliminates most of the sugar.   

It's from a book called "The Good Gut," focusing on recipes that restore microbes called "microbiota" to our bodies -- microbiota that are diminishing because of the proliferation of antibiotic overuse, changes in diet and over sterilization, according to the authors, microbiologists Justin and Erica Sonnenberg.

This recipe uses just a bit of maple syrup as sweetener, plus some pumpkin puree - easy enough to find in these fall months.

You can add your own mix of grains - or buy something like this combination of hot rolled cereal from Bob's Red Mill --

Bake it in the oven, then mix in the raisins after it cools.

My favorite way to enjoy it is over some Greek Yogurt and stewed plums (cut up half a dozen plums and simmer for about five minutes in a few tablespoons of water, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and dash of cinnamon, until the plums break down).

It's a delicious, nutritious and quick way to start the day.

Bacteria Boosting Granola

from the book "The Good Gut"

printable recipe here



4 cups mixed rolled cereal grain (or 1 cup each of flakes from oats, barley, rye and quinoa; substitute as desired; Bob's Red Mill brand has a five-grain rolled cereal that works well.

1 cup unsweetened dried flake coconut

1 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3 T. olive oil

1/2 cup water

2 T. maple syrup

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. raisins



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the rolled cereal, coconut, almonds, and pipettes. In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, olive oil, water, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture over the cereal mixture and stir to coat. Spread the mixture onto a large baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring halfway through. Add the raisins to the cooked granola. When cooled, store the granola in a covered container in the refrigerator. Keeps well for about a month. Serve over yogurt or seasonal fresh fruit.

Schiacciata all'uva

UPDATE - Oct. 7, 2024 - The original post used small Corinth grapes, but this time, I found black seedless grapes that were large, and the flavor was much better. The larger grapes have a much jammier taste to them. Seek them out if you can. I also changed the dough recipe to my normal focaccia recipe and I liked it much better too. The sugar I used was granulated brown sugar (not the brown sugar that you buy in grocery stores, but a specialty sugar I bought in New Orleans.) It tasted great but the color on the schiacciata was dark and almost looked burnt. Next time I would use ordinary granulated sugar.

Here's a photo of the updated schiacciata before it went into the oven:

And what it looked like after it came out. It disappeared in a flash.

Now take a look at the old blog post. This schiacciata was good, but nowhere near as delicious as the revised recipe below.

Now that wine grapes are in season, don't miss this chance to make schiacciata con l'uva, which literally means a squashed thing with grapes. It's a dish from Tuscany, and is more or less a focaccia, topped with grapes, rosemary, olive oil and a bit of sugar.

I love it as a snack, with a glass of wine before dinner, or as breakfast. Don't try to use those green or pale purple grapes you regularly see at the supermarket. They just don't have the jammy, intense flavor of concord grapes, or these tiny grapes I used, called black corinth seedless grapes.

These black corinth grapes are so delicious to eat out of hand. But the caveat is that since they're so small, it takes much longer to strip them from the stems.

The aroma in your house is fabulous and when it's finished, you won't be able to resist cutting into it.

By the way, as with leftover pizza, the best way to reheat is by placing slices in a cast iron skillet for a couple of minutes. The bottom stays crisp, and if you put the lid on top, the heat will permeate throughout. Caveat: The recipe makes a lot, and it dries out if you keep it for more than a couple of days, so make sure you have a lot of friends or family to help eat the schiacciata, or pass it around to your neighbors, as we did.

Want more Ciao Chow Linda? Check out my Instagram page here to see more of what I'm cooking up each day. 

You can also connect with Ciao Chow Linda here on Facebook, here for Pinterest or  here for Twitter. 

Schiacciata con l'uva - Focaccia With Grapes

Ingredients:

For The Dough:

• 1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)
• 2 tsp. honey
• 4 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour (start with 3 cups and add more as needed)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands
• a couple of bunches of large, black, seedless grapes
• olive oil to grease the pan
• fresh rosemary, minced
• a few tablespoons of white granulated sugar to sprinkle on top
• 2 1/2 cups warm water (around 105-110 F.)

1. Whisk one ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy; if it doesn’t your yeast is dead and you should start again—check the expiration date!).
2. Start adding the flour and salt, but add only three cups flour at first and mix. Add more flour if needed. What you want is a shaggy dough with no dry streaks of flour.
3. Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator.
4. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. It helps to use a silicone spatula to do this.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator overnight until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive). The next morning, let the dough sit at room temperature for a couple of hours to rise further.
6. Generously oil a 12" x 16" cookie sheet. 
7. Dump the dough into the center of the prepared pan.
8. If you try to stretch it out right away to the corners of the pan, it will be difficult.
9. Wait fifteen minutes to a half hour, then stretch out the dough. It will be much easier.
10. Pour any oil left from the bowl onto the dough.
11. Press the grapes into the dough.
12. Let the dough rise a second time, uncovered in the baking sheet, in a dry, warm spot until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.
13. Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 425°.
14. Sprinkle the grapes with granulated sugar and minced rosemary
15. Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.