Roasted butternut squash, brown butter sage and garlic sauce

I got a Kitchen aid Spiralizer and was pretty excited about it. I have made spiralized zucchini noodles with my oxo kitchen tool and it was pretty good. I so enjoyed them that I got the upgrade. So today I came home all set to make spiralized noodles but ended up just making julienne slices of the butternut squash. I must say my cutting skills came into pretty good use as I made a quick job of slicing the squash into strips. It just goes to show that while they did not look like noodles you can get short spaghetti like strips.

This is a really good and healthy dish to put together and as long as you are quick at cutting it comes together in a cinch.

The easiest way to peel the butternut squash is to cut at bulb off from the straight part. Then use a potato peeler to peel the skin. Slice the stalk into two half’s. Slice each half into strips. Make julienne slices of the strips. For the bulb portion, cut it into half’s use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then slice in the same way.

Ingredients

Prep time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 15 minutes, Serves 2-3 people

• 1 medium butternut squash (peeled, cored and sliced into julienne strips)
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 18 sage leaves (washed and dried)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• shaved parmesan

Method

Preheat your oven to 350F. Toss the julienned slices of butternut squash in olive oil on a roasting tray. Roast the slices in the oven for 15 minutes.

Put the butter into a  deep pot on medium heat. Once the butter melts keep a watch on it. You will get a lot of froth. Keep it on the heat until you get brown flecks in the butter. Lower the to medium-low and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sage, the butter will froth up. Cook for about 5-7 minutes or until the sage starts to get a little crispy.

Take the butternut squash out of the oven. Divide it between your plates. Top with a little of the sauce, then the parmesan cheese and sprinkle with salt.

Let me know how you enjoy it.

Garlic Rolls

Garlic Rolls

So I have been in a bread making mode and have been trying to make bread without using a starter. Its really quite simple and with a little bit of planning you can get delicious home made bread. Here is another recipe I came across on the net that I simply had to try because of garlic 🙂 from Edible Garden. I made a few modifications and I think you can pretty much put in any spread that you want (Next for me being pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, garlic + green chilli – go crazy with the fillings :-)).

We ate them right away for lunch with Doodi Muthia’s and a little extra garlic butter. I also use Red Star’s Active Dry yeast which I get from Costco which becomes really economical (being that I am baking so much). Its a 2lb bag and it lasts a while and is really good yeast.

Recipe

Rolls

• 1.5 cups bread flour (sifted)
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• olive oil

Garlic Butter

• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 green chilli
• 3 tbsp butter

Method

Rolls

Put the sugar in the water and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast and let it proof for about 5 minutes until frothy.

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt and stir.

Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and knead. This will take you about 5 minutes and the dough should be soft. Oil the bowl and the dough ball. Cover the bowl with cling film. Put a tea towel on top and put the bowl in the warmest place in your kitchen. Mine happens to be the microwave. Let it rise for 45 minutes. This is the first rise.

Make the garlic butter. Mince the garlic, chop the chilli finely  add to the butter and microwave for 10-12 minutes. Stir and set aside to cool.

At the end of your first rise, the dough should be doubled in size. Punch the dough down and knead it for about a minute.  Split your dough ball in two with a pastry scraper. Gently roll out your dough to a rectangular shape. This can be a little challenging as the dough will want to shrink. Just do your best. Spread half the garlic butter onto the rectangle. Roll up the rectangle from one end to the other. Again use your pastry cutter to split the roll into 3 equal parts. Repeat with the other half.

Put the rolls into a baking dish with a little space between them. Let them rise for a second time for 30 minutes.

Turn your oven to 375F. Put an oven proof bowl with hot water in the lower shelf of the oven. Once the second rise is complete put your bread in for about 25-30 minutes. Mine was done at just about 28 minutes.