Friday Night Feast
Apr. 13th, 2013 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterSometime during the middle of last week, I hatched a plan to invite my friends S and JM over for dinner and a Scrabble game on Friday night (sneaky, huh)? So then there was the matter of figuring out the menu, with the refrigerator emptied out to some degree, as it was the end of the week. The previous weekend, I'd fed S a butternut squash pizza, and had roasted and frozen a bunch of extra butternut squash puree, so I thought, heck, how about a soup? I could make some bread to go with it, S could bring a delicious salad, and if JM could supply a nice beverage and some cheese, we'd be all set.
But then there was the matter of the bread. After the tragic death of the loaf pan, I was starting to want a change of pace. And a creamy soup deserves a crusty bread. So on Friday morning, I decided it was finally time to give a no-knead bread recipe a go. There was just one slight concern - my previous roommate, RH, used to make no-knead bread periodically, but she learned the hard way that the handle on the lid to my enameled cast-iron dutch oven was not heatproof to 500 degrees (she kindly replaced it, thank goodness!). I also have reservations about heating empty enameled cast-iron to that temperature. But it was time to do something about the lack-of-suitable-breadchamber situation.
I rode over to the hardware store in downtown Bryan, and bought a giant, 7-quart cast-iron Dutch oven. While I was in line for the cashier, the woman ahead of me saw what I was holding and declared, "MmmmmmmMMMM! There's no cookin' like cast-iron cookin'!" You know it, lady. This Dutch oven is on the large side, which is what I was looking for. Its lid fits onto my largest cast-iron skillet - a bonus point for double-use. It will also be perfect for all of the stews I've been trying to squeeze into smaller pans.
And it was perfect for holding this whole-wheat version of an almost no-knead bread. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the timing by a bit, so the bread finished after we'd stuffed ourselves. Somehow, miraculously, we all managed to find extra room for it. Also, somewhat unfortunately, I neglected to turn the oven temperature down after plopping the dough in, so the bottom came out burnt. Thankfully, burnt crust is easily removed and composted.
The butternut squash soup was assembled as follows:
Step 0: Slice butternut squash in half, scoop out seeds, lightly oil it, put it facedown in a baking pan and roast at 350 degrees until soft, about 45 minutes to an hour (check with a fork if you're more careful than me). Then, scoop out the innards and add them plus some water to the blender and puree it. After this point, I put it in the freezer and pulled it back out again to thaw and make the soup.
Step 1: Collect up a spring of rosemary a couple of sprigs of thyme, and some sage leaves. Mince them, and mince up a shallot, too.
Remaining steps: Then, heat some butter in your soup pan, and saute the herbs and shallot until the shallot is soft, ~5 minutes. If you want, you could probably add some mushrooms at this point, too. All those nice, earthy flavors. Once that's smelling good, add the butternut squash puree, and perhaps a bit more water or soup stock, as you see fit. I added water and some vegetable stock. Raise the temperature to a near-simmer, then turn off the heat and add in a splashing of cream. Top with a sprinkling of toasty walnuts.
For dessert, we had some raspberry buttermilk cake, accompanied by Butterscotch-Biscotti ice cream. The ice cream base was David Lebovitz's vanilla ice cream. Once it finished churning, I added in chunks of some almond biscotti dough that I'd made a couple of weeks previously, where I'd forgotten to add the sugar. As I spooned it into some plastic yogurt containers to freeze it, I added some butterscotch sauce (nothing like cream with your cream! Also, I used really good brown sugar) in layers, to balance out the non-sweet biscotti dough.
And with some cheese, lovely rolls, pomegranate soda, and a tomato-basil-red leaf lettuce salad, there were the makings of our feast.
I lost the Scrabble game, by a 35-point margin behind JM and a 70-point margin behind S, despite playing a seven-letter word. I blame the neverending vowels that followed the bingo.
But then there was the matter of the bread. After the tragic death of the loaf pan, I was starting to want a change of pace. And a creamy soup deserves a crusty bread. So on Friday morning, I decided it was finally time to give a no-knead bread recipe a go. There was just one slight concern - my previous roommate, RH, used to make no-knead bread periodically, but she learned the hard way that the handle on the lid to my enameled cast-iron dutch oven was not heatproof to 500 degrees (she kindly replaced it, thank goodness!). I also have reservations about heating empty enameled cast-iron to that temperature. But it was time to do something about the lack-of-suitable-breadchamber situation.
I rode over to the hardware store in downtown Bryan, and bought a giant, 7-quart cast-iron Dutch oven. While I was in line for the cashier, the woman ahead of me saw what I was holding and declared, "MmmmmmmMMMM! There's no cookin' like cast-iron cookin'!" You know it, lady. This Dutch oven is on the large side, which is what I was looking for. Its lid fits onto my largest cast-iron skillet - a bonus point for double-use. It will also be perfect for all of the stews I've been trying to squeeze into smaller pans.
And it was perfect for holding this whole-wheat version of an almost no-knead bread. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the timing by a bit, so the bread finished after we'd stuffed ourselves. Somehow, miraculously, we all managed to find extra room for it. Also, somewhat unfortunately, I neglected to turn the oven temperature down after plopping the dough in, so the bottom came out burnt. Thankfully, burnt crust is easily removed and composted.
The butternut squash soup was assembled as follows:
Step 0: Slice butternut squash in half, scoop out seeds, lightly oil it, put it facedown in a baking pan and roast at 350 degrees until soft, about 45 minutes to an hour (check with a fork if you're more careful than me). Then, scoop out the innards and add them plus some water to the blender and puree it. After this point, I put it in the freezer and pulled it back out again to thaw and make the soup.
Step 1: Collect up a spring of rosemary a couple of sprigs of thyme, and some sage leaves. Mince them, and mince up a shallot, too.
Remaining steps: Then, heat some butter in your soup pan, and saute the herbs and shallot until the shallot is soft, ~5 minutes. If you want, you could probably add some mushrooms at this point, too. All those nice, earthy flavors. Once that's smelling good, add the butternut squash puree, and perhaps a bit more water or soup stock, as you see fit. I added water and some vegetable stock. Raise the temperature to a near-simmer, then turn off the heat and add in a splashing of cream. Top with a sprinkling of toasty walnuts.
For dessert, we had some raspberry buttermilk cake, accompanied by Butterscotch-Biscotti ice cream. The ice cream base was David Lebovitz's vanilla ice cream. Once it finished churning, I added in chunks of some almond biscotti dough that I'd made a couple of weeks previously, where I'd forgotten to add the sugar. As I spooned it into some plastic yogurt containers to freeze it, I added some butterscotch sauce (nothing like cream with your cream! Also, I used really good brown sugar) in layers, to balance out the non-sweet biscotti dough.
And with some cheese, lovely rolls, pomegranate soda, and a tomato-basil-red leaf lettuce salad, there were the makings of our feast.
I lost the Scrabble game, by a 35-point margin behind JM and a 70-point margin behind S, despite playing a seven-letter word. I blame the neverending vowels that followed the bingo.
