Butternut squash is one of those things that until a year or two ago I had heard about but never really experimented with.  It’s also one of those things I lament not having tried earlier.  It’s great for a variety of things and I use it in everything from soups to chili, but to stay with the year’s trend of keeping things as simple as possible I give you butternut squash in its most perfect state; roasted.

While you can roast butternut squash in just about any fat that suits your fancy, I have several favorites.  The most common are extra virgin olive oil and bacon fat, but using bacon grease overwhelms the delicate flavor of the squash and I just happened to have something a little more exotic hanging around in my fridge when I decided to make this dish.

I had goose fat.

A quick note: Halving the squash before you peel it is a real time saver as well as a convenience.  It’s much easier to hold on to the squash while peeling if you have the dimple left by the seeds to hold onto while you’re removing the tough outer skin and the squash won’t want to slip all over the cutting board while you’re halving it. Once skinned, it’s a snap to slice the squash into manageable pieces for roasting.

Now I’m not saying that here’s anything wrong with olive oil and if you’re looking for a vegetarian snack or side you should most definitely use it.  In my case, having one of the holy grails of roasting fats on hand was more than I could pass up and the flavors of the completed dish were just short of absolute perfection (see my notes as to why it was just short and not right on.)

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Brussels sprouts.  As a kid the mere mention of the things would have sent me running to my room in fear, yet here I am sharing a recipe for them at the request of my kids, who absolutely adore them.  It’s a strange turn of events to be sure.

It’s strange the things I adore today that I never would have touched as a child.  I’m not sure if it was the lack of fresh ingredients in our diet for most of the year, or if my tastes have just changed that much.  I know that most of the vegetables we ate for may years were canned, that probably didn’t help.

In any event, these sprouts do not disappoint.  They have my Son’s seal of approval and I have to admit that I’ve eaten two plates of them in the last two days.  They truly are tasty. As a matter-of-fact, I think I’m going to add them to my permanent Thanksgiving lineup in one form or another.  That way I know my kids will eat at least one green vegetable at the family table…

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The other day a fellow blogger linked to a post here with accolades, but the exact nature of the link had me laughing.  Her words exactly:

Jerry always has great meat recipes.  He is such a freaking carnivore.  But this Roast Beef, Sun dried Tomato, and Basil Taco recipe is …just… well…bloody good.
From BlissTree.com

While I love the comment and I am most definitely a carnivore, I realized that I’ve been neglecting our good friend the vegetable, and that’s a crying shame. It’s not that I don’t eat them or love them, it’s just that they are usually a side note to the star of the show in most cases.  What an injustice!

With new determination to feature more veggie recipes, both for the vegetarians out there and for my waistline (which seems to grow in direct proportion to how happy I am with my life), I rattled a few ideas around, checked to see what I had in the house and freezer and came up with a plan.

It seems that I managed to overstock my larder with cauliflower.  While I love this veggie, I usually use it as a filler ingredient in other dishes or as a simple side for fish or pork.  Only once before have I featured it here as an ingredient in its own right, and that dish is where I took the inspiration for this soup.

I can’t think of a better pairing than cauliflower and curry.  I’m not a fan of really hot curries or massively competing flavors and cauliflower’s neutrality makes the curry shine without the need for a lot of spice.  It’s almost a zen thing.  This soup does not disappoint.

In the end this dish packs a lot of flavor in a satisfying package.  It’s a great starter but could work equally well as a very light lunch in its own right.  The flavor is both delicate and aggressive at the same time, making for a wonderful contrast.  I definitely recommend giving this one a try.

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Tostones, little fried plantain chips.  It seems that everyone in the world had had them but me. I’ve seen them on the food network, heard them spoken of on travel shows and even had friends talk about having them when visiting Puerto Rico. To say the least I’ve been feeling left out. This week my wife set out to change that and I have to admit that I was very excited by the prospect.

The theory here is simple.  You cut up a green plantain or three, toss the slices in water to soak, blot ‘em dry and fry them for a few minutes.  Then you cool ‘em, toss ‘em back in the water, dry them, squish ‘em into chips and fry them again.  If you want to get fancy you use a cup shaped Tostonera to press out little plantain bowls to scoop up your condiment of choice with.

Once fried to your choice of perfection, they are sprinkled with a  bit of salt and then they can ether be served hot or at room temp.  The choice of dips ranges from none to whatever your heart desires.  They really are as versitile as a good ol’ potato chip.

In the end I think I’d have to say that the jury s still out for me on these little gems.  I wasn’t wowed on the first round, but then again, I’m not saying there’s nothing there to like.  I think perhaps I had preconceptions that got in the way.  That is something that I’m not OK with, so I’ll be trying these again, with a  variety of sauces.

As for the sauce pictured in the top photo, I can’t tell you what was in it except garlic, sofrito and adobo powder.  I wish I knew more, but even my wife can’t remember what she put in it.  (And I wish she could, it was fan-friggin-tastic!)

But I guess I should get on to giving you a recipe, huh?

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It’s time to get the roasting pans out, think of braises and switch gears from salads to soups.  Sandwiches will get more substantial and the stir-frys go back to their summertime place in the cookbook cupboard.  Fall is here and the time is ripe for filling the house with the smells of comfort foods.

The basket pictured above is filled with some of our favorite cool weather fare.  The market is currently packed to overflowing with rutabaga, turnip root, parsnips and sweet potatoes.  And if you’ll look right behind the basket, you’ll see some of the most beautiful squash just waiting to be turned into something fabulous. I already have an idea for the acorn squash.  My wife has plans for the spaghetti squash, but I’m open to suggestions for the kabocha…

One each of the root veggies (plus the onion and garlic) will be turned into roasted root vegetables within the next few days. As for the rest…  I need your help.  What are your favorite recipes for these little Autumnal gems?  Do you have a favorite way to cook turnips or parsnips?  Is there something you always do with rutabaga that you think we should try? Is there anything else I should be on the lookout for?

Please post a suggestion in comments.  I’ll post the best 13 later on and put it up for a vote.  This is your chance to help decide what a near future recipe on CbsoP will be! Give me a hand, would you?

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I know that most people probably don’t think of collard greens as a part of their holiday table, but for my family they will be made every thanksgiving from now on. This dish was served last night to our dear friends Mike and Naomia, under threat of bodily injury from N. herself. (Seriously, she threatened me!) The last time I made these greens, M. was out of town, and I was told that he, and all of my readers, needed to try the “best greens she’d ever had”. (High praise for a girl from Mississippi, especially when talking to an Irish boy from California.)

I’m all for special request meals, especially for family and friends. They give me a chance to make something that’s guaranteed to make someone smile, and smile we did, but they were bittersweet at best.

N. was one of the first people my then girlfriend introduced me to when I moved to Texas in 2005. She made me feel welcome in a new place, has always been there with a bright smile and a hug when needed. she was the first person in Texas we told about our engagement and stood at our wedding with as many tears on her ebony face as we had on ours. We were the first to know of her engagement, and were at her wedding as well. We’ve been through a lot together in a short time, but it has been good, all of it.

By the time Naomia reads this entry, she will be with her family for Thanksgiving. From there she will be moving to her new duty station in Japan. When we said goodbye last night, it was for real.

In my life I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. In the military it’s just a fact of life, but it’s rare that someone manages to become such a part of your family’s life that it’s hard to imagine life without them in it.

This is one of those times.

So, Miss Naomia, I wish you well. Remember that no matter where your travels take you, there will always be a plate of greens waiting for you on our holiday table. I’ll even make sure Mike has some rice to go with it. You’re family, and family always has a place in our home.

Oh, and tell your mother we said hello.

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With the days getting cooler and the nights downright chilly there’s nothing like a nice hot bowl of hearty soup to warm both body and spirit. Add a little extra kick to that soup and it tingles the tongue as well. If you don’t mind taking a bite of something that’s going to bite back a bit, this soup is for you.

This was just a quick toss together for lunch yesterday, but it made enough that my wife had it for dinner too, as did I. (She’d heartlessly stolen eaten all the kielbasa by then, so I added some potatoes and simmered for 20 minutes…) It takes about 30 minutes start to finish, and can be made with pretty much anything. The flavors were good, the spiciness was wonderful. I just wish I’d had some good crusty bread to go with it, that would have been divine.

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I love Japanese and Chinese noodle soups almost as much as I like stir fry. The flavors are simple, pleasing and sustaining while still managing to be very light, something most American soups and stews cannot accomplish. This is an Asian inspired soup. This dish was not made from any traditional recipe, I just added flavors that remind me of other soups I’ve had in the past and with a pretty good result if I do-say-so-myself.

If you’re looking at the title and wondering where to get yourself some nyumen noodles or why you’ve never heard of them, they are simply somen noodles served warm. The Japanese are famous for giving a whole new term to something if it’s prepared differently, and this is one of those cases.

This meal actually started its life as a stir fry, but just as I was getting ready to go to it, my wife mentioned that she’d like a soup. In my mind there really wasn’t an issue there, and I grabbed the last of my somen from the pantry and put it on to boil, using a method I learned several years ago for cooking udon noodles, which I will detail below.

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The morning started with a simple email. It’s one I try to send my wife at least once a week, and goes something like this:

Me: …blah blah blah… Would you like anything in particular for lunch?

Mrs. CbsoP: … Yadda, Yadda, Yadda… Yes, I would absolutely love to have a little stir fry over white rice.

Me: I think I can handle that request. Any particular kind of stir fry come to mind?

Mrs Cbsop: Stir fry: how about something with snow peas no sesame oil, but definitely soy.

Snow peas, eh? No problem! … except that I didn’t have any. A quick run to the store would fix that since we’re on base now, that’s a 5 minute trip, including getting Mr. Seat of his Diaper ready to go.

No sesame oil?!? O.K. I’ll admit that I’ve been on a sesame oil kick. You may remember that the last time I made snow peas I used sesame oil as well. I suppose too much of a good thing is just too much, so we’ll skip it this time. A quick check of the freezer to see what veggies are hanging out and…

Yuck. Some frozen medleys, great for a side dish, but lacking at the flavor and perkiness required for a stir fry. It looked like I’d have to handle everything on one store run. The only problem with that was I had no idea what I’d be using, other than snow peas.

Luckily the produce department was there to help me out. We were lucky enough to have fresh snow peas on the shelf, so I figured I’d turn to the other bins in the area for inspiration. The boc choy looked good, so a small head of that went in the cart. Bean sprouts, fresh from California. Couldn’t pass that up. (It’s a joke between my wife and I. She though all Californians lived on bean sprouts, and was a little amazed to find that I didn’t.) some carrots and scallions to round out the day, and we’re all good to go. Less than 20 minutes later I was on my way back to our little kitchen, having spent a total of $6.50. Not too bad.

Stir Fry is less about measurements than about combinations, so the amounts given below may be either a) a guestimate, or b) just a vague idea, but that’s the joy of the thing, you don’t have to be precise and you can use whatever you can find, as long as it plays well with the other ingredients.

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It’s not often I’ll say this, but you’ve just gotta try this recipe!

Both my wife and I love roast chicken. It’s something I make at least once a month, usually following my old standby methods of stuffing the bird with citrus or apples, garlic, onions and rosemary. There is nothing wrong with that method, and I know I’ll go back to it again.

This time I thought I’d try something a little different.

I’d picked up a whole fryer at the market early in the week with plans to make a roast chicken with the method described above. I almost always roast fryers. They don’t take very long to cook, and believe it or not, they come out a lot more moist than the big roasters do. The problem was that my fresh rosemary had gone fuzzy on me, and dried just doesn’t have the same effect. Also, I wanted some roasted potatoes and carrots, but I didn’t want to mess up the whole kitchen with dinner.

The solution to my dilemma was right inside the fridge door, in the form of a package of bacon.

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