Cooking with Mumu: [Update] There are 4 new posts in "Simply Recipes"

Simply Recipes

Here is the Simply Recipes update for cookingwithmumu@gmail.com

Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce
Sloppy Joes
Brussels Sprouts with Black Bean Garlic Sauce
Pasta with Cauliflower

There are 4 new posts in "Simply Recipes"

Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce

One of the best things about fall is the abundance of pumpkins and hardy winter squash. Ever wonder why winter squash is called "winter" squash when it first makes its appearance in the fall? Perhaps because if stored in a cool place, they'll last several months, well into winter. Anyway, butternut squash is the queen of winter squashes. The taste is so good, and so consistent, that from what I understand, most "canned pumpkin" that we use to make pumpkin pie is actually made with butternut squash and not pumpkin at all.

The ever fabulous Garrett came over recently with a pint of roasted butternut squash purée and a mission to create a pasta sauce with it. We often find butternut squash inside of ravioli, why not on the outside? It just needed to be thinned a bit with cream, made savory with Parmesan, and brightened with some acid (from lemon juice) and parsley. The result was absolutely delicious; I ate the leftover sauce with a spoon straight out the fridge for days. The way we made it was chunky, with a little crunch from the shallots, but if you wanted it smooth, you could easily purée it some more or pass it through a food mill.

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Sloppy Joes

From the recipe archive, a warm dish for a chilly day! ~Elise

Just hearing the words "sloppy joe" from my mother used to send us kids into a tizzy. There was something wonderfully fun about getting to eat a burger/sandwich that was messy by design. I've been waiting to make this when my nephew was in town because sloppy joes really are a quintessential kid food. Well the kid is here, and after he explained to me that he didn't like tomatoes with his hamburger and he wanted his onions on top, and I explained to him that sloppy joes are made with the onions mixed in with the beef, and he eats spaghetti so what's wrong with tomatoes, anyway?, he relented. And when called to dinner he ate the whole thing (with high praise), even though he had been making and eating s'mores all day. (Wouldn't touch the coleslaw though. Kids. Lest you think we are the ones feeding him s'mores, he knows how to make them himself and sneaks into the kitchen when we aren't looking.)

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Brussels Sprouts with Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic as he shares one of his favorite quick and easy brussels sprouts recipes. ~Elise

"It's funky. Abrasive. It's not afraid to get in your face and call your mama ugly."

That's how black bean garlic sauce was first described to me. I was one of the RA's in the dorms way-back-when in college and some of my freshmen residents were teaching me how to use a wok. One of them tossed the sauce in with some cooked chicken and greens and as the steam and smoke rose the air became salty and pungent. The aroma was so thick you could suck it in and roll it around on your tongue. A flip of the wok and suddenly lunch was served. A quick taste and I could see that the sauce was an ingredient that demanded your attention and could only be tamed by other brassy ingredients.

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Pasta with Cauliflower

Okay, so I'm weird. I'm one of those people to whom you can say "cauliflower" and "anchovies" and I'll start salivating. I'll take cauliflower any which way (though IMHO roasted is best) and anchovies? Well anchovies are one childhood prejudice ("hold the anchovies!") I've happily outgrown. (Thankfully, along with my childhood anti-opera and country music sentiments, too. What is it with kids not liking things before they've ever tried them?) No, the anchovies will not make this dish taste like fish, they will however give it an indescribable savoriness (umami) that will make you want to eat the whole bowl. This pasta with cauliflower recipe I've adapted from a recipe from my dear friend Pam in Napa who adapted it from a Sicilian recipe by Vincent Schiavelli that appeared in Saveur. It's outrageously good; I've been eating the leftovers for days, which just seem to get better as the flavors have more time to meld.

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