Roasted Butternut Squash with 6-Cheese Tortellini
After playing tourist in Philadelphia all day, we needed sustenance when we got home.
We had seen this recipe concept in the latest Wegmans magazine. It was a throw-together using packaged soup and pre-cut squash. We liked the idea, but not of using pre-made ingredients.
We started from scratch!
Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 butternut squash, roasted
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4-6 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth
- 1 tsp sage
- salt and pepper, to taste
Saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add roasted squash and mash into pot. Add about 4 cups of broth and sage and, with an immersion blender, puree everything to a smooth soup. Add more broth as needed to come to your desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper and add, as desired.
Roasted Butternut Squash with 6-Cheese Tortellini
- 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 3-4 cups butternut squash soup
- 1 tsp sage
- tortellini or pasta of your choice
- salt and pepper, to taste
Heat soup. Add roasted squash, and sage. Check fopr seasoning and add S&P, as desired.
Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain, mix with sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and enjoy!
This is one of those dishes that is simplicity to make - but dayum, is it good!
It can easily be made vegetarian, and, depending on the type of pasta used, can be a vegan entree, as well.
The final part of the meal was homemade rolls.
Y'all have heard me wax poetically about the no-knead artisan bread. I make variations of it all the time.
The latest variation is to add three egg whites to the water - still making it three cups of liquid - to the 6 1/2 cups of flour. Follow the basic instructions. forming the dough into rolls. Let rise, brush with egg white, slice top, and bake at 450° for 25 minutes.
These are really good - perhaps my favorite, yet. The egg white makes for a slightly lighter interior, and a really crunchy crust.
They were so much of a hit, I just made a couple more for tonight!
Pizza
There haven't been many posts the last few days, but it's not because we haven't been cooking. It's because we've been cooking a lot for friends visiting from Seattle - and I'd rather cook and talk with friends around the table for hours than get up and make a blog post.
Selfish, I know, but... it's all about me, right?!?
The pizza dough is pretty much the recipe I used to make when I worked at Pirro's 40+ years ago, except I use olive oil. It's hard to believe I was hand-spinning pizza back in 1968. Time certainly flies when you're having fun.
Pizza Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- olive oil for bowl
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.
Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.
Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.
I actually made two pizzas. One with pepperoni, above, and another with sundried tomato pesto that Victor made a while back, and assorted veggies; green and yellow zucchini, red bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms... and both of them were made with fresh buffalo mozzarella and some pecorino romano sprinkled on top.
Homemade pizza and good friends.
It doesn't get much better.