Recipes Discovered

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

One of my favorite restaurants in State College offers an ever changing seasonal menu. The last time Seth and I were there, one of the seasonal ingredients was butternut squash, and they offered it in the form of a ravioli. It was very similar to a recipe I had, except it was served in a cream sauce, and my recipe called for a brown butter sauce. Either way, it was delicious, and Seth and I had them again a few days after I had them at the restaurant.

The filling is fairly similar to the Butternut Squash Lasagna I made a few weeks ago, although I seasoned the squash with herbs de Provence before roasting it. After roasting it, I let it cool and mixed it with sauteed garlic and shallots, ricotta cheese, amaretti cookies, and nutmeg. Once the filling was done, I started assembling the ravioli. I used wonton wrappers for the pasta, which saves a lot of work. First, I tried folding a single wrapper over the filling, but I couldn’t get a good seal on the ravioli. I had much better luck just using two wonton wrappers and making a larger ravioli. Wetting the edges also helped seal the filling in. Make sure to keep the wonton wrappers covered with a damp cloth while you are filling them because they dried out pretty quickly. Once assembled, I placed the ravioli on a baking sheet and placed them in the freeze until they were solid. I then transferred them to a freezer bag. >> Read more

Beef Tender Recipe

I watch a lot of shows on the Food Network, and for some reason, this recipe for beef tenderloin really stuck in my head. The show was Boy Meets Grill, and featured Bobby Flay’s wife, Stephanie March, who was cooking his birthday dinner. She made a beef tenderloin by simply marinating it in some garlic, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, and butter, and then put it under the broiler for 8 minutes on one side, 5 minutes on the other. After cooking the beef, she wrapped it up tightly in foil, and let the meat rest for 90 minutes at room temperature. On the show, they cut into the beef and it was cooked perfectly to medium rare. It was all very intriguing, so I tried it. Unfortunately, I believe there is very big difference between gas and electric broilers. I have an electric broiler, and even cooking the beef for 8 minutes on each side and then letting it rest, I ended up with one very bloody hunk of meat. However, Seth sliced it up for me, and then a seared each piece for a minute or two on each side, and Seth said it was one of the best steaks he ever had. It was very tender and had a really intense flavor. So while I don’t think the broiler method worked out quite like the TV show (does it ever?), I did discover how to make an incredible tender steak.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread Recipe

Since I finally conquered the chocolate chip cookie, I thought it was time to move on to my other nemesis, banana bread. Seth loved bananas probably more than he loves chocolate chip cookies, but I have yet to make a decent, or even edible, banana bread. I decided to try again with a completely different recipe, one that included cream cheese in the batter. I had my doubts, but there were so many positive reviews, I tried it anyway.

To start, I toasted pecans in the oven. Toasting nuts for me is always tricky, because I’m afraid I will burn them. I watched them pretty closely though, stirring them every couple minutes. They only took about 6 minutes to toast, and then I started the banana bread batter. I combined cream cheese and butter until it was creamy, and then added sugar and eggs. Once that was combined, I added the dry ingredients – whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – alternately with the buttermilk. Once everything was mixed, I stirred in mashed bananas, the toasted pecans, and vanilla. I poured the batter into greased loaf pans (I used Baker’s Joy, which has the flour in the spray), sprinkled the rest of the untoasted pecans on top, and put the loaves in a 350 degree oven. >> Read more

Black Bean and Bulgur Salad

This “salad” is incredible simple, yet very tasty. It’s a nice alternative to beans and rice and to pasta salad, plus a great summer salad with no mayo. I simply sauteed a shallot for a minute before adding bulgur, water, chicken bullion, and sun-dried tomatoes. Once the water evaporated, about 10 minutes, I added frozen corn, rinsed black beans, diced red and green peppers, and seasoned it with cumin, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar. Seth and I ate it at room temperature, and it was great. The peppers stayed crunchy, the corn was sweet, the sun-dried tomatoes were tangy. The dressing was simple, but added a lot of flavor to the bulgur. It was such a quick meal, but I thought it was pretty impressive.

Cognac-Sauced Pepper Steaks Recipe

Caramelized Onion-Dressed Salad Recipe

Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and I know a lot of people will probably be going out to dinner, but I thought I would give you an alternative if you wanted to spend the evening at home. It’s a simple menu that seems like a lot more work than it really is. Pepper steaks are served in a creamy cognac sauce, and to go with the steak, a caramelized onion salad. For dessert, a rich, dark chocolate mousse. Like I said, it’s a very fancy meal, but it’s easy to put together.
Since it can go in the refrigerator for a couple hours, I made the chocolate mousse first. I combined cocoa powder, hot coffee, and salt together to make a thin paste. In another bowl, I whipped heavy cream with powdered sugar and Kahlua until it started to thicken, and then added in the cocoa-coffee mixture. Once the cream formed stiff peaks (about 4 minutes total), I spooned the mousse into fancy goblets, sprinkled the top with shaved chocolate, and stored them in the refrigerator.>> Read more