Tag: squash

Japanese Shakshuka with Kabocha Squash

Well Dined | Japanese Shakshuka with Kabocha Squash

I get a lot of emails with recipes from blog subscriptions, magazines, etc…  Some I delete, knowing they aren’t my style.  Most I archive to make later.  Very few inspire me to make them ASAP; this recipe was one of those few.  Shakshuka is a dish of Egyptian, Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan origin that consists of eggs poached in spiced tomato sauce.

Well Dined | Japanese Shakshuka with Kabocha Squash

This recipe, from Bessou restaurant in NYC (via Tasting Table), puts a Japanese spin on the dish.  It was that fusion element that caught my eye.  The tomato sauce is spiced with Japanese curry powder and cumin.  Roasted kabocha squash is added, along with poached eggs.  The original is topped with miso marinated tofu – I went for miso flavored labneh, instead.  Lastly, it is sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, and served with toasted Japanese milk bread.

Well Dined | Japanese Shakshuka with Kabocha Squash

The tomato sauce is so fragrant and spicy (the original recipe uses harissa, too, but the curry powder was enough heat for me).  It is counterbalanced by the sweet squash, tart pomegranate seeds, cool labneh, and creamy egg yolk.  The squash and the pomegranate add varying texture, too, along with the crispy toast.  And the miso adds this funky umami note that adds to the complexity.  Dipping that perfectly crispy toast into the runny yolk and velvety tomato sauce is just so insanely satisfying. (more…)

Thanksgiving Roundup 2016

It’s that time again! Whether you are having a traditional family gathering with lots of old favorites, or a funky gourmet “Friendsgiving” – I hope that you find some inspiration here. Happy Thanksgiving, my lovelies!

Well Dined | Thanksgiving Roundup

Salads:
Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese
Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese
Quinoa Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Kale, Apple, and Red Onion
Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Broccolini

Well Dined | Thanksgiving Roundup

Sides:
Sage Stuffing with Sausage and Apple
Mashed Potatoes and Hard Cider Gravy
Gourmet Green Bean Casserole
Bacon Popovers

Well Dined | Thanksgiving Roundup

Corn Pudding
Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash
Bourbon Bacon Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter and Sage
Balsamic Honey Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon (more…)

Halloween Recipe Round-up

If you are in need of festive dishes, look no further!  I have collected my most relevant recipes onto one page for you.

Halloween Candy

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Halloween Candy Bark
Candy Corn Jello Shots

Apple Desserts

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Apple Oat Muffins
Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies
Cheddar Apple Hand Pies

Black and Orange
More like green and orange, but you get the idea.

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Butternut Squash and Kale Mac and Cheese
Sweet Potato and Chard Gratin
Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles (more…)

Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Well Dined | Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

A little bit sweet, a little bit savory, a little bit herby and cheesy – this yummy dish looks gorgeous and tastes amazing, plus it is low carb!  Both the husband and I loved it, which is sometimes difficult to achieve.  So I call this one a winner!

Well Dined | Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Start by roasting some squash halves (keep in mind that the full recipe uses 2 whole squashes, even though I only show 1).

Well Dined | Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Meanwhile, make the filling by sauteing onion, celery, garlic, and herbs; browning crumbled sausage; and then adding apple. (more…)

Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pot Pies

Well Dined | Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pot Pies

Melissa and I are back at it!  This time it is with a super delicious, and seasonally appropriate, roasted vegetable pot pie that is super comforting and filling.  I think even meat eaters will love it – seriously!  If you think about it, there isn’t that much chicken in a regular pot pie, and it is in tiny cubes that sort of blend in with everything else.  So who’s gonna miss it?  Not me!  Especially not when you top it with a killer rosemary and black pepper crust.  I’m not kidding, you guys, this crust is awesome.  I want to use it for all kinds of savory tart type things.  This recipe is labor intensive, so give yourself time.  Or make it with a buddy!

Well Dined | Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pot Pies

So, first step – make the dough for the crust.  This involves flour, butter, buttermilk, egg yolks, and (most importantly) rosemary and black pepper.  Crack that black pepper yourself, you want the flavor and the unevenly sized bits.  The crust is what makes this dish special, so don’t skip it!

Well Dined | Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pot Pie

Next, cut up those veggies!  So, so many veggies.  We made a lot of editorial choices with this recipe – eliminate pumpkin (who needs it when there is also butternut squash?), boost the brussels, etc…  Afterwards we realized (per Melissa’s husband) that replacing the carrots with parsnips would have added a nice pepperiness to balance the sweetness of the squash.  Good idea, Dave! (more…)

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Well Dined | Chicken Parmesan Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Chicken Parmesan without the guilt?  I saw a really yummy looking recipe for Chicken Parmesan Meatballs that I wanted to try, but didn’t want to eat all the carbs involved in pasta.  I had also been seeing cheesy spaghetti squash casseroles that looked really good, so I had the idea to combine them.

Well Dined | Chicken Parmesan Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Ground chicken, onion, Parmesan, parsley, lemon zest, breadcrumbs, garlic, and egg are combined to make the meatballs, which are basted with tomato sauce and cooked in the oven.

Well Dined | Chicken Parmesan Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash goes into a casserole dish (I cook mine in the microwave).  This is from two medium squashes.

Well Dined | Chicken Parmesan Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Place the cooked meatballs on top, then the tomato sauce.  I forgot to season the squash, oops!  So I added more salt and pepper here. (more…)

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles

I had a plan to make spinach and butternut squash lasagna roll-ups last week.  But then I decided to add chicken so that Jasper would be more likely to eat it (note that this plan failed, ha).  And then I thought it would be good to make my own spinach whole wheat noodles, which turned out to be too fragile to roll up, especially with the heavy chicken added.  So it turned into a regular layered lasagna instead, and I’m not even sad.  The colors were so pretty, and it was gooey and cheesy and filling.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles

So here’s where I made a mistake – I thought I would be clever and puree the spinach in the food processor instead of the blender before adding  in my flour in order to reduce the number of dirty containers.  Except that the food processor didn’t really puree the spinach very well.  I even had a moment where I stopped and thought I should transfer it to the blender and decided against it, *sigh*.  All those little flakes of spinach made the dough very fragile and difficult to work with, but I stuck it out.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles

The noodles turned out fine (and they certainly tasted good) when cooked, but they were still too fragile to roll (and not very pretty).

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles

So I just layered them instead and all was well.  Now, remember earlier this week when I talked about having leftover butternut squash?  Well, this is where it went.  I pureed the roasted squash and shallots together to make a sauce.  A little of that went on the bottom of the pan, then a layer of noodles. (more…)

Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon

This is a perfect winter weeknight meal.  Buy some pizza dough from the store, throw on some delicious winter veggies, finish with smokey bacon and mozzarella.  Done.  Awesome.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon

Remember how I only needed a little bit of squash for last week’s Carbonara?  Well, this is what I did with the rest of it – cubed it up and roasted it with shallots, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  I only used about half of this squash for the pizza – the rest of it?  Stay tuned.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon

Ugh, blurry picture.  Sorry.  Anyway, top some rolled out dough with slices of smoked mozzarella, the roasted squash, some kale rubbed with olive oil, and some halfway cooked bacon.  I bought some fresh dough from Whole Foods because I really didn’t feel like making my own, but I wish they sold wheat dough.  That would make things easy AND healthy.  Also, I really should have split this into 2 pizzas.  It was almost too big for my stone and I ended up with a lot of crust.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon

In the super hot oven, the bacon finishes cooking, the kale becomes crispy, and the cheese gets all melty and golden.  Yum.  The smoked mozzarella is really key here, it goes so well with the bacon and the kale – so don’t skip it! (more…)

Butternut Squash Carbonara

Well Dined | Butternut Squash Carbonara

By now, you guys should have figured out that I love butternut squash and pasta together.  I could practically rename my blog “The Butternut Squash Blog”.  So when I saw someone grate butternut squash so that it dissolves into their velvety carbonara sauce, you know I was all over that.  Especially because I had a nasty cold and wanted comfort and didn’t care that the pasta wasn’t whole wheat.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash Carbonara

The original recipe used buccatini, which I love, but I couldn’t find any at the store.  I did see these gorgeous long fusilli noodles though.  I have to say, after having cooked with them twice, I wouldn’t actually recommend these.  It takes longer to cook than advertised and the inside is still crunchy (not al dente – crunchy), while the outside has gotten soft so that it breaks apart and doesn’t stay long and beautiful.  Sigh.

Well Dined | Butternut Squash Carbonara

Anyway, grate up that squash (just a little chunk, not even a whole one) and toss it into a pan with a little rendered bacon fat, butter, and garlic. (more…)

Miso Tahini Soup

Well Dined | Miso Tahini Soup

After a bit of a hiatus, Melissa (Smells Like Brownies) and I are getting back to our weekly vegetarian lunches.  Last week we tried this amazing soup recipe packed with veggies.  It is warm and comforting, with lots of flavor and texture – plus it’s really easy to make.  It’s also both vegan and vegetarian friendly.  And gosh, isn’t it pretty?

Well Dined | Miso Tahini Soup

The soup starts out with sliced squash (we used acorn) and tiny cubes of turnip simmered in water until tender.  At first I thought that one small squash and one turnip wouldn’t be enough, but they turned out to be plenty!  So don’t go overboard and think that you need to get more/bigger.  The cooking water then becomes the base for the broth and miso, tahini, and lemon zest are added to round it out.

Well Dined | Miso Tahini Soup

You can garnish the soup however you like, but we stuck with the original recipe and used avocado, chives, toasted nori, and toasted sesame seeds.

Well Dined | Miso Tahini Soup

The soup can be served over a grain, and we choose to try out buckwheat.  We are both avoiding white rice for health reasons and thought this grain-like seed would be fun to try.  Unfortunately it cooks to a porridge like consistency instead of individual grains.  So I would recommend barley or brown rice instead. (more…)