I’ve moved three times with this same bunch of risotto I bought in Michigan. Three times. That’s ridiculous. What could make one so intimidated to make such a beautiful and creamy food? I guess it was the unknown of something not only infamously Italian, but something as touchy as rice. Not to mention that I am not one to stand around in the kitchen, utensil in hand, having to stir my food often. I kind of like to do a million things at once while in the kitchen, whether cleaning the fridge, making yogurt, or finding fitting music from our computer. So if something requires frequent stirring, it will more than likely perish in the heat.

But last night… last night was different. Last night was an evening best spent doing things slowly and a bit monotonously. It was oh so worth it. This was a delicious dish, the risotto turned out creamy, and the locally-grown squash was brilliantly orange. When the rice and squash are mixed, you end up with a truly lustrous dish.

Butternut squash is a great way to pack in nutrient dense goodness, arming the body against winter sickness. Specifically, it is a good source of Vitamin E, Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium and Magnesium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese. Eat it up. It’s satisfying and complete in and of itself, especially when topped with a salty just grated parmesan.

Butternut Squash Risotto

1 medium butternut squash
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt and Pepper
8 cups chicken broth
7 tablespoons cold butter
1 medium yellow onion, minced
2 cups superfino carnaroli rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Split the squash in half, drizzle olive oil on the flesh along with a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper. Bake until soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled, scoop flesh from peel and puree in a food processor. If the squash is heavy with moisture, cook in a saucepan for a few minutes until relatively dry.

In a medium stock pot, bring chicken broth to a boil and reduce heat to low. In a separate large saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Add the minced onion. Cover and cook over low heat until the onions are tender but not colored for about 5 minutes. Bring the pan to medium heat and deglaze the pot with the white wine. Add rice and stir continuously for 3-5 minutes until ou see the outer edge of the rice turn translucent. With a ladle, add enough broth to just cover rice. Slowly stir the rice with a wooden spoon every few minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Don’t allow the rice to become completely dry.

Stirring the rice as often as possible will activate the natural starch, helping to make a creamier risotto. Repeat this process of adding broth, allowing it to absorb, until the broth is gone and the risotto is creamy and less firm to the bite. When the risotto is cooked, stir in the butternut squash puree until it is incorporated. Then add the remaining 4 tablespoons of cold butter, stirring until it is melted. Season the risotto with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the risotto in bowls, garnished with grated parmesan.

Serves 6.

I always knew these pancakes were good, but I was totally convinced after a snowshoe adventure with Josh’s sis and a friend. We clomped through the Sierra Madres which were covered in feet of snow, our poor hound dog having to force herself to either swim in front, or succumb to following our deep tracks behind. Needless to say, we were worn out and hungry, satisfied with the work and ready to soak in some hot springs. That’s when I realized that I had grabbed all kinds of random goods from the fridge before we left the ranch, fully aware of what the cold outdoor air can do to a woman. Josh had made multigrain pancakes that morning, and I had packed up the leftovers. Sadie and Diane couldn’t have been more impressed.

It’s hard to say if they thought these were the best things in the world, well, because they are, or if they were speaking from their famished bellies. Regardless, here’s the recipe, great for a cold Sunday morning before heading out to feed the cows. Or watching cartoons. Or going to church. Or, preferably, going back to bed.

Josh’s Multigrain Pancakes

Dry ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

• 1/4 cup ground buckwheat

• 2 tablespoons cornmeal

• 2 tablespoons red quinoa

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 cup yogurt

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Last ingredients

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 2 generous tablespoons honey

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs; add milk, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Stir well. Meanwhile, melt honey and butter. Drizzle the honey and butter into batter. Stir with a fork.

Heat a flat skillet or stone; melt a bit of butter on the skillet. Once the skillet is hot and butter is melted, ladle the pancake batter to form 3 or 4 inch pancakes. The batter will start to bubble. At this point, check the other side and flip when browned.

You’ll have a beautiful and fluffy bunch of pancakes, approximately 10 or so.

Variations:

• Replace milk and yogurt with 3/4 cup buttermilk.

• Make batter the night before, excluding the butter and the honey, replacing the baking soda with 1/4 cup or so live sourdough culture.

• Highly recommend sprouting your quinoa the evening before. Eventually I’ll post simple directions on sprouting grains.

We had an Apple Bake Off at work a week or so ago. I was extremely pleased when the announcement arrived in my inbox, taunting all employees to compete. I had 45 pounds of organic Colorado apples sitting in the old stone house at the ranch, and I wanted nothing more than to have some form of motivation outside of myself to make an unusual and delicious apple concoction.

Well, instead of sharing something delicious (like this apple, onion and bacon galette), I made two things that I normally don’t like anyway, and boy oh boy, they were so not delicious. Maybe one of the two had a chance, but not my apple pie a la mode drink, mixed in the parking lot, floating with clumps of nutmeg. Yuk. The coleslaw was probably really good, but I’m not so fond of such things. And tell me this, my friends: why would anyone bring coleslaw to an apple bake off? Number one, this is a completely raw side dish, never baked for a moment. And number two, no one will eat your raw mixture, reeking with caraway, when it’s sitting next to warm apple pie and calorie doused apple cheesecake. Lost cause.

I hate to say it, but on this very same day I made a third dish. I was too embarrassed to bring three things, so I saved the truly delicious one, the galette, for family and only my immediate co-workers. Yes, this will be made again! The galette dough puffs up after only brief kneading and resting. The sweet and salty mix in flavor brings such satisfaction, erasing all need for seconds.

Yes, I felt really guilty not taking this offering to the competition, but it also felt so good to be able to have this for dinner with Josh and Gramma that very night, apple pie and cheesecake still sitting in my belly. Needless to say, with all the preparations in the early hours of the day, few pictures were taken. Just believe that as that bacon crisped up in those lovely morsel pieces, and the onions caramelized, there was nothing better than the finale of apples being added to the richly colored and flavored food in that skillet.

Apple, Onion, and Bacon Galette

First, the dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour, or as needed

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in a medium size bowl.

Add the beaten egg, oil and salt. Stir in the flour slowly, a 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough is stiff and difficult to stir, turn out onto a floured surface (use some of the flour that is still left from the original amount). Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Add flour if the dough is sticky.

Set the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and rise in a warm place until the dough as almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

The Savory Filling:
1/4 pound local and naturally raised pork bacon, roughly chopped
4 cups thinly sliced onions
4 cups not too sweet apples (I used a mix of Gala and Jonagolds), peeled, cored and sliced
pinch of salt
A couple sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup of blue cheese or gruyere, optional

After you’ve chopped the bacon, fry it in a large skillet. After the bacon is just crispy, remove the skillet from the heat, and use a slotted spoon to scoop the bacon pieces onto a plate covered with a paper towel.

Drain bacon grease just until there is 3 tablespoons remaining. Saute the onions along with a pinch or so of salt in the 3 tablespoons of bacon grease until the onions are loosened up and a bit transparent.

Toss in the chopped rosemary with the onions. Add the apples and another tablespoon or so of the bacon fat. Stir until the apples are tender. Add the bacon back into the mixture. Sprinkle salt and sugar into the filling to taste. Set aside this mixture to cool while you roll out the galette dough.

Next!
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is thin and about 14-inches in diameter. There will probably be more dough than you need. Cut away whatever is more than the 14 inches and save for another use. Fold the dough into quarters, then transfer to the back of a cookie sheet or sheet pan. Unfold the dough, allowing it to fall over the edges of the pan.

Once the filling is cool, scoop it into the center of this dough. Leave a border of 2 to 4 inches around the edge. Fold the edges over the filling, loosely pleating and overlapping the dough. The center of the galette will remain open and not covered.

Brush the dough with a beaten egg mixed with some milk or cream, or melted butter. Sprinkle the entire thing with an equal mixture of salt and sugar. Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is browned, about 40 minutes. About 10 minutes before the galette is done, top the filling with gruyere or blue cheese if you feel like it! Let that melt and meld its flavors into the galette. Could be just fabulous, I’m sure!

This steak takes little more than 25 minutes in preparation and cooking combined, yet the flavors rival any past steak we’ve eaten. The steak itself is seared to lock in flavors and juices, then the other cast of characters sneak into play: chopped up garlic, de-sprigged rosemary, and smooth red wine all added into your pan for deglazing. Our steak came from Wags Livestock out of Laramie, Wyoming. Someday it’ll come from Meadow Ranch, Rawlins, WY. But for now, they’re doing a pretty bang up job of raising grassfed cows and we’re buying from them.

This recipe has become a number one promoter of our to-be herb garden (hurry, hurry, faster, faster, plant those herbs!). How can I possibly have to run to the store to find “packaged in plastic” sprigs of organic rosemary? Silly. Down right ridiculous. I would like to transplant our Michigan gardens directly into these rocky mountain grounds we find ourselves on. I can’t wait for the days that we are able to return to plucking and picking thyme, tarragon, sage, and rosemary from our backyard on fanciful cooking whims. Wait. We don’t have a backyard. And wait. Do antelope, elk and deer like herbs? How about rattlesnakes? Oh boy.

We ate this steak with a quickly sauteed cabbage, butter, dill combo, cooked together with salt and water. We could mop up the braising juices and garlic with the cabbage. It was perfect.

Thanks to Nourished Kitchen for being such an inspiring place to find whole and healthy recipes like this one!

Wine Braised Steak with Rosemary and Garlic

1 16-ounce 100% grass-fed beef steak
unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter or clarified butter
4 to 6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 branch fresh rosemary, plus more to garnish
1 cup red wine, any will do

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Generously season the steak with unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as it suits you.
3. Heat two tablespoons butter or clarified butter in a cast-iron skillet over a very hot flame.
4. Sear the steak in the hot fat about one minute on each side.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat, add garlic and fresh rosemary needles.
6. Deglaze the skillet with red wine.
7. Place the skillet in an oven preheated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about ten minutes, longer if you prefer well-done steaks and less if you prefer a rare steak.
8. serve with pan juices, garnished with additional rosemary.

YIELD: about 4 servings.

TIME: about 10 minutes (preparation), 10 to 20 minutes (cook time)

A few years back, when a friend of ours was living with us, I got pretty hardcore into these smoothies. And all three of us agreed, they were delicious. But after about the second week of me obsessively blending these drinks, Josh and Michelle were done. They’d had enough. So I controlled the obsession, but every autumn since, the craving returns.

This is a recipe from the famed Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks, and this particular book is New Classics. Just because we don’t have many trees in this part of the country doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy autumn in so many other authentic ways. Like organic Colorado pears. In smoothies.

Autumn Smoothie

1 ripe fresh pear, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup milk (I suggest almond, they suggest soy. I have no milk and am substituting fresh and local heavy cream. But in a way lesser quantity…)
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 drops pure almond extract
pinch of ground cinnamon

Puree the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.

You can not be disappointed!

Two weeks ago, Josh and I headed south to Ft Collins, Colorado for a workshop. We spent the day learning about mobile slaughter units. I know, weird. Place yourself in a big chilly room, full of livestock producers, thinking about a better way to process animals, and see us sitting there wondering how we’ve found ourselves in the scenario. This is all part of our coming to an understanding with what it means to know where our food comes from.

So you can understand how all we really wanted after the workshop was to eat a meat free meal, heart and comforting. We made it to Ft Collins amazing vegetarian restaurant, Tasty Harmony. I don’t eat meat when we go out anyway, so it was a luxury to be able to go somewhere with endless options. We’ve been cutting back on the alcohol in our lives, and this place was ideal with its gazillions of fresh juices and amazing and satisfying non-meat dishes. Just what we needed after a long day spent contemplating the reality of the world we’ve chosen!

We started our meals with ginger juices and soups. Josh ordered this perfectly flavored squash curry soup. It was filling, delicious, and left us wanting to re-enter into our Indian food habits. I called the next day, asking if they would be oh-so kind and share the recipe with me. I spoke with the chef, who had created the soup based on what he had around, without a recipe. He did the best he could to share the ingredients and steps.

We tried the soup out last night and it was just as satisfying at home as it had been at that wonderful restaurant.

Winter Squash Curry Soup

One large squash (we used butternut), roasted with salt. pepper, and olive oil, and cubed
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
2 grilled red peppers, chopped
Vegetable stock or bouillon (or chicken)
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
Basil, Turmeric and Curry
1-2 cinnamon sticks
Half of a squeezed lime
Some coconut oil
a bit of cinnamon
Toasted almonds and black sesame seeds

First, roast that gi-normous squash. We chose a butternut squash, quartered it, brushed it with olive oil, seasoned it with salt, pepper, and bit of curry, then placed the pieces face down on a baking sheet. We roasted the squash at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Roast the red peppers. We stuck ours in the oven on broil, turning them so that they charred on all sides. After charred, put in a covered container so the peppers sweat. This should release their skins. Ours were stubborn, so I left the skins on. They still worked beautifully.

Sautee the onions, celery, and roasted red peppers with some salt in coconut oil.

While these are cooking, toast your cumin seeds on the stove in a heavy bottomed pan. Once they smoke a bit, remove from the pan, grind the cumin into a rough powder, and toast briefly with the curry and turmeric.

Mix these together and then add all spices including the basil to the sauteeing veggies. At this point it’s probably a good idea to add a bit of liquid to keep the spices from burning. We used homemade chicken stock, but veggie bouillon in water or just water would work as well. Let this cook down a bit, adding liquid as needed.

Take this mixture and puree most of it (and prepare to accept all pureeing equipment to be stained glowing turmeric yellow). Return to your soup pot, and then add your cubed and roasted squash along with a cinnamon stick or two. Add more liquid until you start to have a soup consistency. Cook this and allow the squash to start to breakdown. In the end you’ll want to have the soup thicken quite a bit from the squash, and still have some whole pieces remaining.

Taste the soup and add any needed spices. We added garam masala and some salt at this point. Squeeze in about half of a lime, stir in a little coconut oil, and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon in until the aromatic mixture makes your stomach grumble. Again, test for flavor.

Top with toasted almonds and blackened sesame seeds.
Just plain excellent.