In the Kitchen Pt. 5

It has been a little while since my last "In the Kitchen" addition, and all I can say is I'm sorry. I really have been cooking and baking up a storm these past couple of weeks, and I even took pictures of the food, but... There have been a couple of events that kind of took my mind off of posting. Things including the Phillies winning the World Series, which of course being a suburbanite of Philadelphia, you know I was down there partying it up at this place the night they won, joining in the crowds on Broad St. afterwards, and then traveling downtown once more on Friday to take part in the amazing parade. And then there was the Election and of course the stresses of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner. Finally, after my evening run with Metayo, I found some quite time to sit down in front of the computer and share a few of my cooking ventures with you. I now present you with an amazing cheesecake recipe by the incredibly talented and always dependable Dorie Greenspan. Being the first cheesecake I have ever made, I was quite proud at how it turned out, and so was everyone who tasted it. Since it is not a recipe of my own, I thought I'd take another photo of a Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Penne I conjured up for my sister, who always asks me to whip something up for her on Tuesdays. The recipe for the Penne dish is as follows, but you can find the cheesecake recipe here, and I do suggest that you try it immediately!!

Roasted Garlic & Butternut Squash Penne
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed.
5-6 whole garlic cloves
1 shallot, chopped or diced
6 sages leaves, julienned.
1 tbsp. E.V. Olive Oil
3 tbsp. butter + 1 tsp. E.V. Olive Oil
1/8 tsp. Anchovy paste (Incredibly subtle, nutty NOT fishy flavor)
Red Pepper Flake to taste
Pinch of Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
1 Box whole wheat Penne


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp. oil with butternut squash, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour onto baking sheet and place in oven, mid rack for 10-15minutes until golden. If needed, you can broil them for a few minutes to get the tops nice and brown. Take out and and allow to cool. In a saute pan, add butter and 1 tsp. oil, anchovy paste and shallots. Allow butter to brown slightly, and add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste, and sage leaves. Cook whole wheat penne until al dente, and add into saute pan, along with a splash or two of pasta water or white wine. Slice roasted garlic into thin or thick slivers, and add that and butternut squash to pan. Heat through and serve. (* This is the perfect dish for fall; nutty and comforting. You could also try adding a green such as broccoli rab or spinach as well!)










*Sorry for the not-top quality cheesecake photos, darkness had fallen by the time it chilled and I don't like using the flash.

All I Want for Christmas

Okay, I give in.. It is merely the start of November and already I have caught a bug. Now this bug, although mind/time consuming as it may be, is not painful nor dreaded. This bug bites me every year around this time, sometimes sooner and sometimes later; I like to call it the Christmas Bug. With less than two months from the big day, my mind has be taken over by all thoughts of Christmas. I must admit that for the past three weeks I have checked the isles of Target, Home Goods, and Kohl's just to see if they had received their seasonal shipments. Obsessive, perhaps just a tad, but I couldn't help it. Even with the present state of our economy all that I can think about are ornaments, snowstorms, Christmas music, hot chocolate, and gift wrap. Typically I don't decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving, but I think that this year, Christmas might come just a little bit early, at least in small doses. You will no longer hear the radio playing in my living room, no sirree, you will now hear Christmas Cd's blasting their joyous tunes through the walls of my chilled Autumn home. Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, just to name a few. I even began creating a Christmas list for myself, how selfish is that? I normally don't ever make a Christmas list, but I have just encountered so many "good things" that I "have to have." Although I will do much needed revisions to the list before I hand it over to my loved ones, it is still nice to wish, so I guess it would be more appropriate to call it a wish list (*which I currently have on Amazon, Anthropologie, and J.Crew.com ;) With that said, I decided that I would post up a few of the items that have caught my eye, since by the looks of it, many of my fellow bloggers have also started in with their Christmas spirit. Enjoy!





*It's funny to me how our Christmas lists change as we grow older. As a child all I wanted was baby dolls, kitchen toys, and a cash register (yes a real cash register, but that's a whole other story ;) Then, into my tweens and teens, I wanted cold hard cash, perfume, clothes, shoes, and makeup. Now that I am a little bit older, I find myself asking for home supplies, home supplies! Of course there's still always room for shoes!