Thai Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

This soup has Thai inspired undertones that let the roasted squash still be the star of the dish. You can make it as hot as you want with the Sriracha, and you can always add more lemongrass and ginger if you want those flavours to come through more.

INGREDIENT
- 2.5 lbs butternut squash
- 3 dried New Mexico chiles, seeded and cut into pieces
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 shallots, diced
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 stalk lemongrass, minced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 can light coconut milk
- Sriracha to taste
- salt to taste

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice (each) squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush flesh with oil and place flesh-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 30 mins, or until soft. Set aside to cool. Scoop squash out of the skins.
2. Pour boiling water over the chiles and let sit for at least 20 mins. Don't drain the water, James, you will use it in step 6.
3. If you have one, use a mortar and pestle to pound the lemongrass and ginger into a pulp.
4. Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Dry roast coriander seeds until fragrant.
5. Add oil, onion, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and ginger to the pot. Saute for 5-7 mins, until softened but not browned.
6. Add chiles and soaking water to the pot and cook for 5 mins, stirring regularly.
7. Add squash, stock, and sugar to the pot. Mix well.
8. Transfer to a blender in batches and blend until very smooth.
9. Transfer back to the pot on med-lo heat. Add coconut milk. Season to taste, and add Sriracha to taste. Heat to steaming and serve.

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Rolls

These make a great addition to any Thanksgiving table.  Not only do they look good but they taste awesome.  The pumpkin brings a wonderful moistness to the dough and a beautiful golden colour.

INGREDIENTS
Makes about 28 rolls
- 1 1/2 cups warm soy milk
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine, but fresh is better)
- 3 cups all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry)
- 3 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oil
- additional oil for brushing

METHOD
1. Sprinkle yeast over the soy milk and whisk to dissolve.  Add puree, flours, salt, sugar, and oil and bring into a soft dough, adjusting flour or liquid as needed.  Knead for 5 mins, until smooth.
2. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
3. Line two 9 inch round pans with parchment paper.  Slice off 2 oz pieces of dough and work into a ball.  Place in the prepared pan just touching one another.  When pans are filled, brush buns with some oil, cover, and let rise for 30-40 mins, until almost doubled.
4. Preheat oven to 400 then bake for 15-18 mins, or until golden brown.  Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm, letting your dinner guests pull off rolls as needed.

You can very easily freeze a pan of these when they are cooled, then thaw/warm them when you need them.

Scalloped Potatoes and Butternut Squash with Roasted Chestnuts

I experimented with two dishes tonight for Christmas. The first (a cranberry tofu with a cranberry and orange chutney) was a disaster, but the second was pretty much what I wanted. Not the prettiest looking dish, but the flavour was amazing. The creamy sauce is made even more creamy with the butternut squash, complemented by the sage. The potatoes are soft but not mushy and the chestnuts add some texture and flavour.

INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup margarine

- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- scant 1/4 cup flour

- 3.5 cups plain soy milk
- 1 tbsp rubbed sage

- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp pepper

- 1.5 lbs potatoes, peeled
- 1.5 lbs butternut squash, peeled
- 12 roasted chestnuts, chopped

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2.8 litre (3 quart) Corningware dish

1. Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic for 10 min, until translucent.

2. Add in flour and mix well. Slowly whisk in soy milk, add sage, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to bubbling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

3. Slice potatoes and squash in a food processor so they are very thin. Put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with a layer of potatoes and a layer of squash (if potatoes or squash are wet after slicing, bad them on a towel before putting them in the dish). Sprinkle some chopped chestnuts over top. Repeat until all potatoes and squash are gone, and top with the last of the sauce (you may have some left over). Press down on the layers occasionally, and refrain from adding too much sauce.

4. Cover dish and bake for 1 hr and 15 mins. Uncover and bake for 30 mins, until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 20 mins before serving (the layers will set).

Ethiopian-Style Soup

I say "Ethiopian-Style" soup because the flavours are inspired by the Ethiopian stews I like to make, but is not any "real" Ethiopian dish that I know of. In many ways it is just a simple and thinned down stew packed with that nourishing lentil-y goodness that I love about Ethiopian food. This was also a great way to use the first squash of the season (see below). I used Bonbon which had a delectable texture and gave the soup a wonderful sweetness to offset the spicy heat. It was even better the next day.

INGREDIENTS
Makes a lot
- 2 tbsp margarine
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cup sliced shallots
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 1 tsp tumeric

- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/2 tsp cloves
- berbere to taste
- 2 cups red lentils, rinsed
- 10 cups water

- 6-8 cups chopped squash (or sweet potato)
- 1/4 chopped fresh parsley (more for garnish)
- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Melt butter in a large stock pot over med-hi heat. Add onions and saute for a few mins, until the onions get a nice golden brown on the edges (don't burn them, though). Add shallots, garlic, and ginger and reduce heat to med-lo. Cook for about 20-25 mins, until the mixture has nice brown colour.
2. Add spices and lentils and raise heat back to med-hi, stirring to mix everything well. When sizzling (the spices will stick a bit), add 6 cups of the water. Bring to bubbling, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let cook for at least 30 mins (longer is nicer, if you have the time, so that the lentils and onions can break down), stirring regularly.
3. Add the remaining four cups of water along with the squash and parsley, bring to bubbling over med-hi heat, then cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for 20-30 mins, or until squash is cooked through. Adjust seasonings to taste, garnish, and serve.

Bourbon Glazed Acorn Squash

Reading week is drawing to close and I have accomplished less than half of what I wanted to. Sigh. But, we did get to the cottage for a few days for some snow-filled fun with the cousins. Since we had pancakes for breakfast every day at the cottage, I really was not in the mood for them come Shrove Tuesday. Instead, I went with some Cajun flavours--a Cajun tofu (next post) and this glazed squash. No real culinary breakthrough, but very tasty nonetheless.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 acorn squash, seeded, cut into quarters
- 2 tbsp margarine
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp bourbon
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- pinch cayenne pepper

METHOD
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. Place squash quarters skin side up on a baking sheet. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 mins.
2. While squash is baking, melt margarine in a small pot, then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, bourbon, and spices. Set aside.
3. Remove squash from oven, and remove squash from baking sheet. Line baking sheet with the foil you used to cover the squash, then place squash skin side down on foil. Brush thickly with glaze.
4. Return to oven and bake another 20-30 mins, brushing with glaze about every 5 mins until deeply golden and cooked through. The glaze will pool a bit in the bottom of each wedge, which is fine. Serve in the skin. If you have leftover glaze, mix it with some cooked carrots.

Spaghetti Squash with Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

Now that summer is over we are back to the tasteless, anemic, tomatoes from the grocery store. Sigh. I wanted to make a tomato sauce to go with a recently purchased spaghetti squash, but knew that the tomatoes this time of year leave something to be desired. Enter slow roasting. I was amazed--this process brought out more flavour than I ever could have imagined. Combined with the vermouth, this sauce is bursting with tomatoy goodness and is the perfect complement to the flavour and texture of the squash. Obviously, this recipe needs a bit of planning. I roasted the tomatoes the day before and kept them in the fridge until I needed them.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 6 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- olive oil
- seat salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 leek, light green and white part, thinly sliced
- 1 tomato, small dice
- 1 cup vermouth (plus a few generous splashes)
- 1 tsp basil
- salt and pepper taste

METHOD
1. Slow Roasted Tomatoes: Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Gently toss tomato wedges and garlic cloves in a bit of olive oil and spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 3.5 to 4 hours, until well-roasted, wrinkly, but still with a moist centre. Peel the garlic and chop.
2. Roasted Spaghetti Squash: Cut a small hole in the squash to let steam escape. Roast at 375 degrees until soft to the touch. This will depend on how big you squash is, but generally about 1.5 to 2 hours. Cut open, let cool a bit, then remove squash strands with a fork. Toss in a bit of margarine and season with salt and pepper.
3. Sauce: Heat oil over medium heat. Add leeks and saute for a few mins, until softened. Add a generous splash of vermouth and cook for a few mins more, until nice and soft. Add more vermouth, if needed. Add roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, diced fresh tomato, and 1 cup of vermouth. Let simmer for 10 mins or so, until sauce is thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over squash.

Seitan with Apple Squash Chutney

This probably isn't actually a chutney, but it sounds better to say it is. I served this with some chicken-style seitan (this stuff that I blogged about before), but you could serve it with tofu, or a chickpea cutlet, perhaps.

INGREDIENTS

Makes enough to top 8 seitan cutlets

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 leek, thinly sliced

- 1 celery stalk, diced

- 1 garlic clove, minced

- 2 cups diced butternut squash

- 2 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped

- 1/3 cup raisins

- 1/4 cup water (plus more as needed)

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1/4 cup maple syrup

- 2 tsp cinnamon

METHOD

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute leeks, celery, and garlic for 8-10 mins, until soft and translucent. Add squash and fry for 2 mins.

2. Add apples, raisins, water, salt and pepper, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Bring to bubling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 mins, until squash is cooked. Stir occasionaly, adding water, if needed. The chutney should be moist, but not runny.

3. Serve over a seitan cutlet, or a slice of tofu.

Seitan over Maple Squash and Sweet Potato

Have you ever looked in the fridge and wondered what in the world you were going to make for dinner? Especially on the day before shopping day? Sometimes the results can be surprising. This dish was wonderful and was perfect for a cool Canadian autumn day.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

- 4 large pieces chicken-style seitan, or tofu

- 1/4 cup flour

- 2 tsp poultry spice

- 1/4 cup margarine

- 1 onion, halved and sliced

- 1 celery stalk, sliced

- 1/2 butternut squash, diced

- 2 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced

- 1 1/4 cups vegetable or chicken-style broth

- 1/3 cup maple syrup

- 1 tsp ground thyme, or to taste

- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Heat margarine in a frying pan over med-hi heat. Mix flour and poultry spice together and dredge seitan or tofu in the flour mixture. Fry for 3-4 mins per side, until golden. Remove from pan.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add onions and celery to the pan, and add a little more margarine if needed. Saute for 5-7 mins, until soft and translucent. Add squash and potatoes to pan and cook until both begin to colour deepens.

3. Add broth, maple syrup and thyme to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to bubbling. Place seitan on top of potatoes. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 mins, basting seitan with the liquid, until potatoes and squash are cooked. Add more liquid if needed.

4. Serve seitan over a bed of potatoes.

Roasted Pumpkin and Walnut Manicotti

I almost didn't post a picture tonight because it looks so bad. I can assure you, though, that these taste great. The filling would also taste good in ravioli, I think. As I expected, Son #1 wasn't overly crazy about the filling, Son #2 liked it OK, but Son #3 gobbled down two servings.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8 manicotti

- 1 lb chopped butternut squash

- 1 lb chopped pumpkin

- olive oil

- salt

- 1 cup walnuts

- 1 head of garlic

- 1 tbsp sage

- salt and pepper to taste

- 8 manicotti shells

- double recipe of Easy Sage Alfredo made with 1/2 the flour

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Toss squash and pumpkin in a bit of olive oil and salt. Roast in the oven on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 20 to 30 mins (depends on how small you chop the squash), turning every 1o mins. Roast garlic head at the same time, for about 15 mins, until soft. Allow squash to cool.

2. Roast walnuts on a cookie sheet for 6 mins, turning after 3 mins. Allow to cool. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

3. Mash squash, pumpkin, and half the head of garlic with a fork (save the other half for the Alfredo sauce). Pulse walnuts in a food processor until they resemble coarse bread crumbs. Mix into the squash mixture along with the sage. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Cook manicotti shells for 4 mins in boiling water. Drain, and stuff with pumpkin filling. Place in a large baking dish and cover with Alfredo sauce. Cover dish and bake for 45 mins. Remove cover and bake for 10 mins.

Autumnal Mash

Thanksgiving is fast approaching for us Canadians (next Monday), so tonight I experimented with a few dishes to prepare for our holiday meal with family. This dish is easy to make and tastes great (and is a great way to get kids to eat squash), and is also easy to blog. I am spending tonight working on my cookbook, so I will leave the more complicated dish for tomorrow's post.

INGREDIENTS

- equal parts of:

- peeled and cubed potatoes

- cauliflower florets

- peeled and de-seeded squash, chopped

- water

- margarine

- salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Place all veggies in a large pot (quantity will vary depending on how many people you are planning to serve). Cover with water, cover pot with a lid, then bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 mins, or until veggies are good and soft. Drain well.

2. Add a large spoonful of margarine to the pot, then mash well with a potato masher. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

(Roasted Butternut Squash) Pierogies

A big thanks to Jennifer in Calgary who sent me this recipe for vegan pierogies. She recently spent time in Ukraine where she picked up this recipe in a booklet of postcards with traditional Nativity Lent recipes. Nativity Lent, in case you are wondering, is celebrated 40 days before Christmas and ends with a feast on Christmas Eve. I decided to also make a more "gourmet" pierogi by adding roasted butternut squash to the dough and filling (note that half the pierogies in this pic have an orangeish dough). The result was pretty tasty, but I am not sure it was more tasty than Jennifer's original recipe.

Dough

INGREDIENTS

- 2 cups flour

- 1/2 cup water (plus more, as needed)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 tbsp white vinegar

If making roasted squash pierogies, add 1/2 cup mashed roasted squash (cooled) and reduce water to 1/4 cup (adding more as needed)

Filling

Filling is up to you. I boiled 4 large potatoes and sauteed 2 onions in 4 tbsp of olive oil. When the potatoes were cooked, I drained and mashed them, mixed in the onions and 1/2 cup nutritional yeast, and seasoned with salt and pepper. For the roasted squash pierogies I used equal quantities of this mixture and mashed roasted squash.

METHOD

1. Put flour in a medium bowl and make a well in the center. Dissolve salt into the water and pour into the well. Put baking soda into the vinegar and let fizz. When done, add to well.

2. Mix liquid into flour until it comes into a dough. Add more water if needed. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 mins until smooth.

3. Wrap dough in a damp towel and let rest for at least 30 mins.

4. Roll out dough to about 1/8" thickness. There are two things you can do here. 1. Cut into rounds with a glass or cookie cutter, fill with cooled filling, and seal sides with a fork. Place on a dish towel and cover with another towel until ready to cook. OR, 2. Cut dough into 3 inch squares, fill with cooled filling, fold diagonal corner, and seal seam with a fork. This method makes triangular pierogies, but you don't have to keep rolling out the scraps of dough created in method 1.

5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle rolling boil. Drop in pierogies in batches and cook for 3-5 mins. A cooked pierogi will have a lighter colour than an uncooked one. You will see what I mean when you cook them.

6. Drain cooked pierogies. Saute them in margarine over medium heat, about 3-4 mins per side, until a nice golden brown. Top with sauteed onions, vegan sour cream, and freshly ground pepper.

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

So, we were supposed to have some neighbours over this afternoon for a (mostly) fall-themed vegan spread, but Son #1 developed a fever and we had to cancel at the last minute. But, all was not lost. I had a chance to try out a new recipe, and I learned what I will do differently next time. The full menu was going to be:

1. Warm apple cider (steeped with cinnamon sticks).
2. Meatless meatballs (in slow cooker w/BBQ sauce).

3. Pretzel bites (with hot dog pieces inside, for the kids). Just cut hot dog in four pieces, wrap each piece in a pretzel dough, dip and cook as usual.

4. Sweet potato quesadillas (this time I added 1/2 cup finely chopped roasted pecans to the filling (roast on cookie sheet for 10 minutes, turning pecans over after 5 mins). Very good!

5. Butternut Squash Cakes (recipe follows).

6. Apple pie.

Butternut Squash Cakes (adapted from The Artful Vegan)

- 3 cups finely grated butternut squash (peeled and seeded, of course)

- 1 cup cooked wild rice

- 6 green onion, thinly sliced (reserve some for garnish--I forgot to do this)

- 2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp cloves

- 1/2 tsp allspice

- 1/4 cup cornstarch (more as needed)

- oil, for frying

Mix all ingredients together with enough cornstarch that it can be formed into patties. Fry on med-hi heat in oil, 3 mins each side, until crispy and golden. Top with roasted apple chutney and green onions. Serve.

Roasted Apple Chutney:

Core and dice 4 small cooking apples. Mix in 1 tsp canola oil, 2 tbsp sherry, 1/2 tsp salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roast in oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 mins (until apples are soft and slightly golden). While apples are roasting, heat 1 cup of apple sauce in a small saucepan (blend with hand mixer if chunky). Thin with a few tbsp apple cider. Add in roasted apples.

NOTES: I did not finely grate the squash (recipe did not specify), and so it was hard to form into patties. That meant I put in way more cornstarch than I wanted to. I think a fine grate will fix this. Also, don't use your hands to form the patties. I pressed the mixture into a round metal ring I use for making crumpets.