Butternut Squash-Yogurt Sauce

Time for fall, time for squash. Time for a change in leaf color, in apparel, in the type of weather you discuss on the elevator ride up. Time for feeling excited upon exiting the apartment, not because you're headed anywhere particularly interesting, but because the air gently teasing your windbreaker is bright and bold and carries an offer of change that says Good. Time for layers, peeled off indoors, packed on outdoors, then peeled off again once the sun bullies its way through the crisping leaves. Time for frisky dogs. Time for down comforter capes. Time for turning the oven on too early, just so that the whole kitchen feels like an oven. Time for acrobatic maneuvers to get from real clothes-to-jammies-to-bed in as little time as possible. Time for faces warmed in hot tea's steam. Time for bowls of mush that are delicious because that mush is squash mush. Time for fall.







Butternut Squash-Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (use 3 unpeeled, whole garlic cloves if you have them. I did not)
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup water

Directions
--Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dice squash and place in an 8x8-inch, foil-lined baking pan. Add oil, salt, basil, and garlic powder and toss to coat the squash. NOTE: Eventually you will want to remove the squash skin. I did so after roasting and found it very easy, if time consuming. You can peel the squash beforehand, but will likely lose a little more of the flesh.
--Roast for 35 minutes or until squash is fork-tender. Remove from oven and when cool enough to handle, add to a blender. (If you roasted skin-on, remove before adding to the blender by scraping the flesh off with a fork). Add yogurt and water and blend until smooth.

Swiss Chard Pesto

Pesto really reminds me of summer. It's the season for harvesting basil, of course, but it is the bright flavour that puts me to mind of a fresh, sunny time of year. A time of year where the family gathers on the porch for dinner, and the whole pot of pasta sits at the table's center, so that no one has to reach far for seconds. In this sense, this recipe is of two minds. It is a pesto, which suggests a cry on my part for a glimpse of warm, picnic-friendly weather. But the leaf is not basil, but Swiss chard, signaling that we still have a ways to go before basil's reign is upon us. It is not actually chard season either. But I, at least, don't have the same association with the green as I do with basil, so I'm spared the nostalgia.

In its own right, this is very pretty pesto; the chard's red stems fade to a blush pink during the simmer, giving a vivid contrast of colors to the pesto's final form. I used the pesto in a couple different ways: a scoopful mixed with brown rice tinged the grains pink. A second night, I used it as a spread and smothered a toasted bagel with the pesto. The oil from the pesto acts almost like butter, soaking into the bagel's crispy pores, but with the added flavor of the luscious greens. Pairing with pasta is a natural crowd-pleaser as well.

Adapted from Shutterbean's Kale Walnut Pesto
Swiss Chard Pesto
Ingredients:
1/2 bunch Swiss chard
4 cloves garlic, chopped in half
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP olive oil
salt and ground black pepper

Directions:
--Rip chard leaves off of stems; don't worry about the size. Chop stems into 1-inch pieces.
--Place chard stems and leaves and garlic in a small pot and cover with water. Heat on medium-high heat and cook 8-10 minutes, or until leaves are wilted and stems are easily pierced with a fork. Drain water, and when cool, squeeze excess moisture from leaves.
--Scoop chard, garlic, and lemon juice into a blender. Blend on low-medium speed, adding oil gradually, until almost smooth and pesto looks just slightly grainy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir into rice, pasta, or polenta, or spread onto a bagel or piece of toast. Would also be excellent on grilled cheese.

Jelly Doughnut Muffins

As usual, my family took its annual trip this Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with our longtime friends, who welcome us into their homes and kitchens. We saw one unusual development this year — aside from one dish simply dripping with cheese, this Thanksgiving catered almost entirely to our sole vegan diner. We had a lovely array of vegetables, casseroles, and desserts that omitted dairy and eggs. My cranberry cornmeal-crumb tart was one such sweet. And the morning before we left for home (in a desperate attempt to prolong our departure, I admit), I made these muffins. That is, I made jelly doughnut muffins.

Come to think of it, perhaps I ought to have tackled actual jelly doughnuts. They would have taken considerably longer to make. But these muffins did the trick, providing us all with a sweet bite as we ran out the door and keeping at bay any grumbles about getting home too late. And they really do taste like they are in the jelly doughnut family. (I'd go for a tight-knit cousin, if not a blood brother.) The keys to success are a heavy dash of vanilla in the batter, viscuous jelly (which I didn't use, but more anon), and a smattering of powdered sugar that melts across the newly formed crowns of the baked muffins. This trifecta carries along the lusciously sweet, sugary flavor of the doughnut while avoiding the necessity of heating up a vat of oil. And they're vegan.

According to the recipe, these need to sit out overnight to form the crisp coat that doughnuts naturally develop from their time in the afore-mentioned vat of oil. But we didn't have time for that, and they looked too tasty right out of the oven. Actually, I missed those part of the directions until I'd already begun to mix the batter. Once there's batter, there's no going back.  But if you have the patience and plan accordingly, the doughnut-like quality of these should only improve with time.

Jelly Doughnut Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup soymilk

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

2 TBSP cornstarch

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup jelly (as alluded to earlier, the trick here is to use sugary, thick jelly. I used homemade jam, which was a bit too liquidy and wouldn't stay in its hole, preventing the muffin batter from rising to properly cover the jelly.)

powdered sugar

Directions:

--Mix together soymilk, vinegar and cornstarch until cornstarch has dissolved. Let sit while you prepare other ingredients.

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin pan (or a 12 cup regular sized muffin pan, or combination of the two) with cooking spray or line with muffin papers.

--Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Make a well in the center. Add oil, soymilk mixture, sugar and vanilla to well and stir until combined.

--Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Using a teaspoon, perch a dollop of jelly on top of each muffin. Don't worry about pressing it into the center; the muffin dough will rise to (mostly) cover the jelly.

--Bake mini-muffins for 12 minutes and large muffins for 20, or until tops are springy but firm to the touch (a toothpick test won't work, as the jelly gets in the way). Remove as soon as possible from the tin and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

(Again, I ate these immediately upon removing them from the oven. But supposedly letting them rest overnight lends the muffins a doughnut-like, crispy outer shell. Experiment as you will, and as your power to resist allows.)

Garlic Smoosh on Baked Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is one of those successful use-whatever-the-pantry-throws-at-you dishes. At the time of this dish's inception, the only useful ingredients on the shelf were garlic, mustard and vinegar, so I combined them to make this smoosh, a well-suited name created by my friend and fellow foodie-in-training Hannah Rose. Roasted garlic provides a base (well, I suppose the sweet potato makes up the real platform, but garlic is the base for the spread, at least) for the mix of creamy mustard and sweet-tangy balsamic. Mashing the smoosh into the smooth sweet potato is terribly satisfying and delicious, but the mixture can go on an assortment of things; into grilled cheese, spread on pizza, added to pasta sauce, etc.

As most of my dishes seem to be these days (still acclimating to a new kitchen and a new life), this dish is quite simple. The only part that requires much thought is roasting the garlic. You'll want to keep some of the skin on as it roasts to protect the innards and keep them from drying out. After about 20 minutes of roasting at 400, check for doneness with a fork. If they feel soft, remove them from the oven and let them cool before de-shelling them. I did not let mine cool and my fingertips suffered; so please, wait for them to cool.

Garlic Smoosh on Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients for smoosh:

1 garlic bulb, unpeeled

1 TBSP Dijon mustard

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

2 sweet potatoes, scrubbed

Directions:

--Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prick sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven and cook for about 40 minutes or until very tender when poked with a knife.

--Set garlic on a pan (can be the same one as the sweet potatoes). Cook for 20 minutes or until a bit puffed and soft when poked with a knife. Let cool and peel cloves. Mash with a fork and add mustard and balsamic. Mix until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

--When sweet potatoes are cooked, pull from oven and cut in half. Place two halves per plate and spread with smoosh and any accompanying condiments you'd like (butter, sour cream, crispy onions, more pepper). Serves 2.