Throwback Thursday: Butternut Squash Toast

This post originally appeared on January 30, 2015

If you want a dynamite appetizer for Thanksgiving (today!) try this butternut squash toast. It's very fall-ish, both sweet and savory, and just all around delish.

If you don't want to make it for dinner tonight (I realize it's very last-minute) it's great anytime in the colder months, or whenever you can find whole winter squash.

-------------------------------------------

New Year's Eve 2014 was very much a repeat of New Year's Eve 2013: we went to Cunningham's for dinner, came home to watch Kathy Griffin taunt Anderson Cooper until midnight, then toasted the new year with champagne and Christmas cookies. We love that Cunningham's opened in our area; it's ideal for both casual and fancy meals, and because it's so close, we don't have to worry too much about encountering drunken revelers on our way home.

The restaurant offered a prix fixe dinner last year, but we opted to order from the regular a la carte menu. It was less-expensive that way, and allowed us to skip dessert. Plus, there were more selections. I had been intrigued by the idea of butternut squash toasts, a dish that was praised by Richard Gorelick in his 2013 review of Cunningham's. He describes the toast as comprising ricotta, maple syrup, and cider vinegar, in addition to the squash. We ordered the toasts as one of our appetizers and really enjoyed it, even Mr Minx, who is not the biggest fan of squash.

Those flavors stuck with me, and a few weeks into the new year, I decided to try to replicate it. But before I reinvented the wheel, I looked on teh Innernets to see if anything like it was out there. Lo and behold, there was--a recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, which had been restyled and reblogged a couple of times. It involved squash, ricotta, maple syrup, cider vinegar, and thick slices of toast, so I'm pretty sure it's the inspiration for Cunningham's dish. And it seemed easy enough to make at home.

What's not easy is peeling butternut squash. Jean-Georges' recipe called for roasting and mashing, but I liked the diced squash at Cunningham's. Thought it would be more attractive as well. J-G also called for what seemed to be an inordinate amount of cider vinegar and maple syrup--1/4 cup each--and 2 teaspoons of salt. Yowza. No need for either excess; the dish is even better when it's not cloyingly sweet. Besides, all of that additional liquid would make the dish too soupy. Yes, I do have the audacity to question Jean-Georges. Cooking is all about what pleases the eater, not the chef. And this dish is so good, I'd do it all over again.

Butternut Squash Toasts (adapted from a recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten)

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small dice
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Large pinch aleppo pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Country bread, cut into 1-inch thick slices
Ricotta cheese
Coarse salt
Minced chives and chile threads for garnish

Preheat oven to 450. Combine squash, 1/4 cup olive oil, aleppo pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl and toss well. Transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast, stirring twice, until tender and lightly caramelized, 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. Add the onions and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are well softened and darkening, about 20 minutes Add the vinegar and maple syrup and cook an additional 10-15 minutes.

Combine squash and onions in a bowl. Taste for seasoning. Add a touch more maple syrup if you want it to be sweeter, but we enjoyed it on the more savory side.

Lightly toast bread. Spread some ricotta on toasts, then top with the squash-onion mixture. Sprinkle with chopped chives and chile threads.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Braised Duck Legs with Winter Squash

We Minxes love duck. If we see it on a restaurant menu, one or both of us will order it, but we don't make it at home very often. It's not a particularly difficult protein to work with, but unless we're talking whole ducks, it can be quite expensive. (Whole ducks aren't exactly cheap, but they're not outrageous.) Raw duck breasts are a fairly elusive creature; Wegman's usually has the D'Artagnan brand in stock at a cost of around $30 per pound. Legs would probably be cheaper--if they sold legs in any form other than pre-confitted.

We end up buying our duck legs at Great Wall, a Chinese supermarket in Catonsville. I have heard that they sell breasts, but I have never seen them there. Tongues, sure. Feet, ok. But not breasts. I've also heard that H Mart sells duck, but again, I haven't found it there. So Great Wall it is. A pack of two legs sets us back a bit over $6, which I suppose isn't insane, but considering they have about as much meat as a chicken thigh, it's not cheap, either. In any case, we love duck and will buy it when the mood strikes/when we happen to be at Great Wall.

In the past, I've made cassoulet-type dishes with duck legs. I wanted to do something else this time, so consulted the Oracle (aka Google). The recipe that leapt out at me was one for braised legs with figs, star anise, and winter squash. The combination sounded good, but our grocery store didn't have any dried figs. We had a bag of dates in the pantry, so I decided to use them. Since I was already making substitutions, I looked for a way to make the dish mine. I didn't like the idea of having big chunks of vegetables in the finished dish, or serving it with rice. It would remind me too much of my mother's pot roast. While I loved the meat itself, I wasn't fond of the giant chunks of stewed celery and carrot, both of which my mother made me eat. Instead, I'd turn the winter squash into a puree and dice the other vegetables finely, so they'd merely flavor the sauce rather than serve as a vegetable. I was unsure of the flavorings though. I liked the idea of star anise, but would it be better in the squash than in the duck? Would it be redundant if I used it in both? So I consulted with my other Oracle, Mr Minx, who has the occasional flash of culinary brilliance. He suggested adding a smoky and spicy element, so I added chipotle to the duck along with the star anise. I seasoned the squash with salt and pepper only, so its mild sweetness could stand on its own.

The result was pretty terrific, if I do say so myself. The chipotle, while adding a good deal of heat, played nicely with the star anise, and the creamy squash helped soften the impact of the chile. The dates broke down in the sauce completely, adding a subtle sweet creaminess. We served the dish with pieces of crisp sourdough toast, which added a bit of textural contrast and was useful in mopping up the luscious sauce.

The dish seems a bit fussy, and maybe it is, but it's worth the effort. As a plus, the duck perfumes the whole house.

Braised Duck Legs and Winter Squash Puree (Adapted from Fine Cooking)

2 (12- to 16-oz.) fresh duck legs, trimmed of excess fat
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium stalk celery, diced
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
8-10 dates (8 if you're using the large medjool variety, 10 if smaller, like barhi or halawi), pitted and chopped roughly
1 whole star anise
1 chipotle en adobo, minced, or 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
2-3 cups chicken broth
1 medium winter squash (such as red kuri, buttercup, or kabocha)
Heavy cream
1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a large (8-quart) pot over medium-high heat. Add the duck legs, skin-side down, and cook until the skin is very well browned and crisp, turning once or twice to make sure they are browned all over. Use tongs to transfer duck legs to a large plate. Drain off most of the fat from the pan and add the carrot, celery, and onion. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables soften, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the garlic, the chopped dates, the star anise, and the chipotle. Cook for an additional minute or two. Put the duck back into the pan and pour in enough broth to just about cover the duck. Increase the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer the duck until tender, 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

While the duck is cooking, preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the squash in half, scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the squash, cut side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 60-90 minutes, until the squash is very tender. Set aside and allow to cool until it can be handled without burning oneself.

Scoop flesh from squash into a blender container. Add heavy cream, a few tablespoons at a time, and puree squash until it's the consistency of baby food and very smooth. If you're using a squash with a fluffier, drier consistency, like buttercup, you might have to add water to help the blender along--I used about 2/3 cup of water and 1/4 cup of cream to my buttercup. Season puree with salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a small saucepan and set aside.

When the duck is done, remove it from the pot. Turn the heat up to high, uncover the pot, and reduce the remaining liquid to about a cup. If there's a lot of fat floating on top, skim it off, but I find that the combination of the dates and the boiling emulsifies everything nicely. Once liquid is reduced, use a stick blender to puree the vegetables and dates into a smooth sauce. Add the champagne vinegar and season the liquid with salt and pepper to taste. Add the duck back to the pot and turn the heat to low.

Reheat the squash puree. Place a puddle of it in the center of each serving plate. Top with a duck leg and a few spoonsful of sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Serves 2, with extra squash puree and sauce.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Butternut Squash Toast

New Year's Eve 2014 was very much a repeat of New Year's Eve 2013: we went to Cunningham's for dinner, came home to watch Kathy Griffin taunt Anderson Cooper until midnight, then toasted the new year with champagne and Christmas cookies. We love that Cunningham's opened in our area; it's ideal for both casual and fancy meals, and because it's so close, we don't have to worry too much about encountering drunken revelers on our way home.

The restaurant offered a prix fixe dinner last year, but we opted to order from the regular a la carte menu. It was less-expensive that way, and allowed us to skip dessert. Plus, there were more selections. I had been intrigued by the idea of butternut squash toasts, a dish that was praised by Richard Gorelick in his 2013 review of Cunningham's. He describes the toast as comprising ricotta, maple syrup, and cider vinegar, in addition to the squash. We ordered the toasts as one of our appetizers and really enjoyed it, even Mr Minx, who is not the biggest fan of squash.

Those flavors stuck with me, and a few weeks into the new year, I decided to try to replicate it. But before I reinvented the wheel, I looked on teh Innernets to see if anything like it was out there. Lo and behold, there was--a recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, which had been restyled and reblogged a couple of times. It involved squash, ricotta, maple syrup, cider vinegar, and thick slices of toast, so I'm pretty sure it's the inspiration for Cunningham's dish. And it seemed easy enough to make at home.

What's not easy is peeling butternut squash. Jean-Georges' recipe called for roasting and mashing, but I liked the diced squash at Cunningham's. Thought it would be more attractive as well. J-G also called for what seemed to be an inordinate amount of cider vinegar and maple syrup--1/4 cup each--and 2 teaspoons of salt. Yowza. No need for either excess; the dish is even better when it's not cloyingly sweet. Besides, all of that additional liquid would make the dish too soupy. Yes, I do have the audacity to question Jean-Georges. Cooking is all about what pleases the eater, not the chef. And this dish is so good, I'd do it all over again.

Butternut Squash Toasts (adapted from a recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten)

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small dice
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Large pinch aleppo pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Country bread, cut into 1-inch thick slices
Ricotta cheese
Coarse salt
Minced chives and chile threads for garnish

Preheat oven to 450. Combine squash, 1/4 cup olive oil, aleppo pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl and toss well. Transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast, stirring twice, until tender and lightly caramelized, 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. Add the onions and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are well softened and darkening, about 20 minutes Add the vinegar and maple syrup and cook an additional 10-15 minutes.

Combine squash and onions in a bowl. Taste for seasoning. Add a touch more maple syrup if you want it to be sweeter, but we enjoyed it on the more savory side.

Lightly toast bread. Spread some ricotta on toasts, then top with the squash-onion mixture. Sprinkle with chopped chives and chile threads.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Ananda

"Ananda" is a word that means "bliss" in Sanskrit and other Indian languages. It's also a pretty good word to describe the meal that Mr Minx and I had recently during a media dinner at Ananda, a new restaurant in Maple Lawn by the folks who gave us the Ambassador Dining Room. While their usual menu comprises many of the Punjabi-style dishes that are familiar to most of us (tandoori dishes, biryani, bengan bartha, bhunas, naan), we were served a selection of special seasonal offerings, some of which had a fusion aspect.

We started our party in the bar, sampling the restaurant's tasty house beverages, like the Mumbai Mule, made with a light but still quite peppery ginger beer, and a cosmo made with goji berries. The decor at Ananda borrows heavily from the old-world ambiance of the Ambassador, and even has a spacious terrace area with garage doors and a corner fireplace that will come into play during the colder months. For right now, it's a perfect spot to enjoy an elegant, yet exotic, meal.

We started off with a couple of appetizers. One was a moist lamb meatball version of classic seekh kabab...

Kulu Kofta, aka lamb meatballs

...and the other was wee crab cakes with local corn and toasted mustard seeds, one for each of us. Both were a delicious way to start off the meal, but I did prefer the lamb meatballs. They were the most "Indian" in flavor, which I hoped was a harbinger for the rest of the meal.

Kerala crab cakes

That was not to be the case. Instead of the usual collection of richly-sauced family-style dishes, we each received our own beautifully-plated servings. Haute cuisine with Indian flavors, if you will.

The first of our individually-plated courses consisted of a giant shrimp, prepared tandoori style, and served with the restaurant's mint, mango, and avocado chutney. The chutney, both spicy and fresh, was the highlight of this dish. It's also available on its own. They should sell it by the jar.

Shrimp Adrak

After the shrimp, we received a bowl containing chunks of spiced pear chutney. It looked a bit sparse until Bindi Singh, one of the restaurant's owners, poured over a soup of summer squash and carrot. Billed on the menu as a classic dish from the foothills of the Himalayas, the soup was served cold. The chilled soup spoons were a thoughtful touch.

A palate-cleansing salad of locally-grown watermelon, Breezy Willow Farm feta, watercress, onion, and pistachio came next. I loved the way the sweet watermelon absorbed some of the tangy dressing, a combination of lime, chile, mint, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar.

Halibut, basmati rice, potatoes, onions

Our entree was a nice slab of well-cooked halibut, dressed with sesame, soy, and tamarind, served with grilled leek and both red potatoes and basmati rice. The sauce, which did not seem typical at all, was inspired by Tibetan cooking experienced by the owners on trips to Dharamshala, northern Indian home of the Dalai Lama.

Peach and strawberry crisp with cardamom ice cream

Finally, we were served a dessert of peach and strawberry crisp topped with a wee scoop of cardamom ice cream. Despite being full, I ate every bite and wished for more ice cream.

Ananda is a bit of a haul from Baltimore, and not exactly easy to find, despite being in a stand-alone building on Maple Lawn's main drag. There's no signage (as yet), so look for the street number on the side of the building (7421). There's plenty of parking in the back. It's definitely worth the trip to try the restaurant's seasonal menu as well as more traditional offerings. However, if you don't want to make the drive to Howard County, Ananda's sister restaurant, the Ambassador Dining Room in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood of Baltimore City, is there to satisfy your Indian food cravings



Posted on Minxeats.com.