Oh hey, I have a blog.

So what if I am slowly starving it to death, right?

Well thank you to YOU dear reader, you are the only one left.

What have I been up to since August? Oh, not a whole lot. I think that I've been a bit lazy of late with the blogging thing - too many photos of what Ima puttin' in mah piehole and not enough writing to go with it.

You wanna know why? Because I fricking HATE writing recipes. OMG I would rather scrape wallpaper at a hoarders house.

I know how to cook like people know how to drive a stick shift and for the record I cannot operate a manual transmission unless bunny-hopping from point to point is considered operating.  So I have lots of empathy for people who can't cook and who rely on microwave meals and powdered crap in a box.

Which you would think would make me super patient and recipe-writeable. You would be wrong. I just cook. Occasionally I will read a recipe because I've forgotten how to clarify stock or to look up the set temperature for jelly, but at this point in my life I kind of just know how it all goes together.

Right now I am eating lots of beets. And I really need to look up if eating this many beets will make me diabetic. But all I do is rinse them really well, wrap the whole lot in foil and roast them at about 375 degrees until a knife goes through them like butter buttahhhh.

When they've cooled enough to handle, using a wad of paper towels to handle, take one in one hand and use another paper towel to rub the skin off.

Chop them up and sprinkle some feta cheese all over, as well as salt & pepper. Sometimes I might splash a little vinaigrette over, or just a bit of plain vinegar, along with the cheese. At the moment I am eating the feta made from goat milk that I get in my Farmers to You order - it is a very mild feta and just so very delicious.

The other thing I am eating is sliced and roasted delicata squash.  It has made a squash eater out of me. I used to be of the opinion that all squash were just overgrown decorative gourds waiting for a coat of shellac. And now I eat squash almost every night.

All right, so there are two ways to do this, but no matter which way you go you need to give them a really good clean because you are going to be eating the skin. And think about it - squash grow on the ground, something probably crapped on it. Like a bird, or field mouse.

Scrub it well, dry it off a bit, then cut it down the middle lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and at this point you can just rub the halves with a little olive oil and roast them face down until they are soft and squidgy. Afterwards you can stuff them with a little bit of cooked quinoa mixed with a little Romano cheese, some finely diced cooked beets, a couple of raisins, and maybe a bit of chopped garlic or parsley. You can really stuff it with whatever stuffing you like. That is just how I make it. Although thinking about it, I bet a homemade version of Stove Top stuffing would be amazeballs...

Alternatively, after you've scraped the seeds out, you can simply cut them in slices, toss them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them. Do I need to tell you that you should roast them on a foil lined sheet tray? See? THIS is why I don't like to write recipes! I never know how much detail people need or want. And also I always sound like a condescending jerk when I tell people what to do.

Roast them until they are lovely and caramelized, you will have to flip them at some point. It usually takes about 25 to 30 minutes per side. But that is just me, you will have to see what works for you in your oven.  The half-moons of squash will shrink up so make a little more than you think you will need. Leftovers are great sauteed with a little garlic and parsley and tossed with cooked pasta. Or just cold, with your fingers and some wine.

At this time of year pretty much everything that is local and fresh is best roasted. It heats the house up and goes well with parsley and garlic fried up in a little olive oil with some red pepper.

When I move on to something else, you will hear about it here first! Or maybe about four months after, something like that.




Comments

Betsy said…
Some of us like all the details we can get about cooking something! I sure wish you and I lived closer since I have some 30-pound squash varieties in my garden (now moved to the root cellar) and I don't know what to DO with them! And beets! They are still in the ground out there and unless it threatens to get ridiculously cold, that is where they will stay until picked just before a meal. (Maybe now you understand that when asked what my favorite food is, beets are the 1st thing that come to mind! Thanks for the tip on roasting them. Gunna do it tonight!

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