The Best Soup Yet: Curried Butternut Squash

Howdy.

I finally cooked tonight. It felt like a decade. Cooking is such a stress reliever for me; to get my mind off the fact that I'm unemployed and broke. So when I unable to do things like cook...I get a little depressed. On the bright side, I have an interview tomorrow so we shall see what happens!

Hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas! I have to say Christmas 2010 has been the best yet. Great family, friends, and I received everything I wanted and more. This includes....A NEW LAPTOP! A Mac! My crappy Sony Vaio has been on it's last life for a while now, so I am ecstatic to get a computer that will last longer than...a year. I also got a gorgeous KitchenAid mixer, Frye boots, DJ Hero (which I can't stop playing), the Pioneer Woman's cookbook, Guy Fieri knives

(my Dad wants to be him), and so many other great things. One really expectingly cool gift was Demy: a digital, touchscreen recipe reader.

You are able to add any recipes on this via internet! It also has a converter option, a list of substitutes, and 3 timers. Totally cool, tanks Momma D :)

Anyways, tonight I made the greatest soup ever. EVER. Butternut squash, curry, pancetta, jalapeño...everything I love in one soup. I've been wanting to make this forever but my boyfriend wasn't too keen on it, so I made it by myself tonight while watching the 16 & Pregnant reunion (he's going to be REALLY happy he's not here tonight). I am sometimes a little wary of making soups, as a lot of them I have made have been bland. I made one recently with cauliflower, asparagus and leeks, and to be honest it was gross. I hated it. So this was a pleasant surprise! The butternut squash and curry go great together as they have that sweet and spicy combination that never fails. The original recipe calls for bacon but I used leftover pancetta from Christmas. The bacon would have probably been better with its smoky flavor, but it was still a good substitute.

I splurged and bought myself a dutch oven yesterday. It's not those $300 ones but a very good knockoff. I love it; it was so easy to make this soup in it. The other pot I have is way too small and every time I made soup it was overflowing. If you need a nice but cheap dutch oven, head to Target and get one of these bad boys. Only $60!

Here's the recipe...so make this soup asap. So yummy and great for winter hibernation.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, halved and seeded
• 1 jalapeño chili (or Serrano if you don't like heat)
• 2 slices of bacon (or pancetta)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• White wine or dry vermouth
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder (the original said sweet curry powder...I just used regular)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• Hearty dash of paprika
• 1 large bay leave (or 2 small)
• 1 quart of chicken broth (4 cups)
• Whole milk or heavy cream (optional but highly recommended)
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees and adjust the rack to the middle position. Place both halves of the squash FACE DOWN on a baking sheet(I missed this part). Roast until tender, 45-60 minutes. Place the whole chili pepper on the same sheet, or on another pan, and roast until tender, about 20 minutes.
   
   
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a dutch oven or large soup kettle set over medium heat.
   When the bacon is crispy, remove it from the pot and set aside. Add the onions and carrots to the pot and saute until barely tender. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about another minute. Deglaze the pot with a splash of white wine or dry vermouth.
   
   
   Add the curry, thyme, paprika, bay leave(s),
   
   and about 3 cups of chicken broth.
   
   
3. When the squash and pepper are done, remove from the oven and allow them to cool until you can handle them comfortably. Using a spoon, scoop the flesh from the squash into your soup kettle. Remove the stem and seeds for your pepper, roughly chop it, and add it to the pot as well. Crumble bacon and add it back into the soup.
4. Using a large wooden spoon, mix and mash it all together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leave(s).
5. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth (or if your lucky enough to have one...the immersion blender). Return the soup to the pot, adding a splash of milk or cream and more chicken broth to bring the soup to your desired consistency (I added an additional cup). Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
   
   Enjoy babes!

Here's the link: http://threemanycooks.com/recipes/soups-and-salads/curried-butternut-squash-soup/

Update

I've been meaning to update this thing for a while now. We've been cookin a little but really, the holidays are leaving our lives pretty hectic; lots of commuting to the burbs, shopping and wrapping. On top of this all, I've temporarily lost my camera. As many of my friends know I'm ALWAYS losing cameras. I hope it's at my parents house.

Anyways, updates are coming. After new years, I'm going to start updating this thing at least twice a week. It's one of my many new years resolutions. Not to mention I completely enjoy doing this.

Mark also wants to do this "ingenious" idea that he thought of for my blog: Fried Fridays. His thought was that on every Friday that we cook, we should fry something. I personally think that neither of us should ingest any fried food since we are trying to lose weight...but because he thinks that this is the best idea ever created and I wanna keep the peace, we're going to try it.

Along with this, we're probably going to do Meatless Monday's too. I'm not the biggest meat eater anyways so this is not really a big deal, but I think Mark might suffer. However I think cutting meat consumption is very important as we all know about the environmental and health benefits of a vegetarian diet.

Lastly, I will try my hardest to make this thing prettier; logos and what not. Computer stuff and HTML is extremely overwhelming to me but I neeeeeed to learn it. If anyone can help...I'd appreciate it :)

Get ready for some food, babies!

Glen Prairie

Last night was my mother's birthday and big girl Kimberlee Dudek picked the restaurant to celebrate! For the past few years I've been reading Chicago Magazine and kept reading about Glen Prairie; local "Americana" food right in Glen Ellyn. I've been trying to get my parents to go there (who live a whole 10 minutes away). Of course, they are creatures of habit and always go to the same 2 restaurants alllll the time. However, I FINALLY told my parents..."we are going to Glen Prairie for Mom's birthday, whether you like it or not." So we did...woo! And guess what...it was delicious. My parents, boyfriend and I loved it. One of the best Suburban restaurants yet!

When we got there at 7p.m. on a Saturday, there was hardly anyone there. The restaurant was small, but quaint and homey. The tables had large comfy chairs and the table was a little small for 4 people, but we managed. We first ordered wine of course, which was a Riesling because my mother only drinks Riesling and well...it was her birthday. To my surprise, it was a dry Riesling, which is rare; I feel like every one I've had has been unbearably sweet. 2 1/2 glasses went down reaaaal easy. Because we were starving, we ordered 2 appetizers; sweet corn bruschetta and onion rings. The bruschetta was great! Corn, tomatoes, mozzarella, onions with a jalapeño sauce which I'm going to try to re-create at home. And the onion rings were PICKLED! That's in caps because pickled anything is TO DIE FOR!!! They were "out-of-bounds" as Guy Fieri would say. Like, I want pickled onions on everything from now on.

After a glass of wine, dinner came out. I had a quarter of a chicken with mashed potatoes and heir covert (French green beans). My mom had pork tenderloin with rice pilaf, my father had a cheeseburger and fries(as always), and Mark had short ribs with mashed sweet potatoes (which i kept eating) and brussels sprouts. Everything was DELICIOUS! Chicken can have a tendency to be dry and boring, but it was so flavorful and juicy. And the chicken stock sauce was delicious. The green beans were cooked perfectly...forget about that frozen crap.

Mark's sweet potatoes were to die for. I am a sweet potato freak soooo...no surprise there! And his short ribs...butter. I'm not even kidding. No knife needed. My family was literally eating off his plate. My mom's pork tenderloin was juicy as can be. I'm not a huge pork tenderloin fan but it was pretty good! And my father's dinner...I only got to try ONE fry. That's it. So I can assume it was pretty good?!

Dessert time came and I made sure to save room. As always, I picked vanilla bean creme brulee. It's my weakness, can't help it. There were 3 other things that I would have LOVED to try but creme brulee is always #1 in my book! Luckily, Mark decided to get caramel apple pie, my mom got pumpkin cheesecake, and my father got a brownie sundae. I tried everything...and it was soooo yummy. I could have just had dessert and been satisfied to be honest. My creme brulee was super creamy with raspberry and blueberries on top; just the way I like it :)

So GO TO GLEN PRAIRIE! It's great food, inexpensive and a great time! We are going back asap. Here's the link http://glenprairie.webs.com/

Rigatoni Aurore with Pancetta

Ok I'm sorry. I completely suck at updating this thing. In my defense however I've been super sick all last week, been getting ready for the holidays, and began job searching all over again (meeehhhhh...). Needless to say it hasn't be the greatest two weeks. And I honestly haven't cooked anything that good. I made some pasta that did not turn out at ALL, which is ridiculous because it's pretty hard to screw up dried pasta and some sauce. I also made some pork chili for my Dad which he devoured and literally left me a spoonful. Tanks, Dad!

So last night I was so happy to cook something good. A post-cold meal full of carbs and fat. And lots wine. And that's just what I did. Let me tell you this meal wasn't just good, it was great. Possibly the best thing I have ever made. Mark agreed. He had two FULL bowls and two large pieces of garlic bread. It was just that kind of meal that you pig out too and don't even care how bad it is for you...because it's just too good. So seriously make this. It's super quick and amazingly good. Serve with some Trader Joe's garlic bread and two-buck-chuck and you are set for a great food coma.

The recipe is below and let me apologize now for the lack of pictures. I just totally forgot to be honestly. Again, I suck. Sorry.

Penne Aurore with Pancetta

(It said to use penne, but I used rigatoni)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of rigatoni
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 jar (23.5 oz) tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup fresh chiffonaded basil leaves (those long strips)
• 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese (or more)

Directions:

1. Cook pancetta in a large skillet over med-low heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towels to drain.
   
   
2. Add olive oil and garlic to the pancetta drippings and saute for 30 seconds. Add tomato sauce, wine and cream. Bring sauce to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
   
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite. Drain pasta and divide amount 4 plates (or 2 haha). Spoon sauce over pasta.
   
4. Sprinkle pasta with grated pecorino romano cheese and pancetta.

Here's the link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/penne-aurore-with-pancetta/