Dim Sum Sunday - Pumpkins/Squash

So many choices of squash and pumpkins to choose from. Don't mind the funky gourds, I decided to use that lovely acorn squash along with a butternut squash to try a recipe I hadn't made before. I turned to one of my favorites when it comes to simple fresh cooking.
I toyed with the Squash Ravioli but instead decided on the Butternut Squash Pizza. No link this time so here's the recipe:

Butternut Squash Pizza

1 butternut squash
¼ c. grated mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
¼ c. grated Gruyere cheese
Salt and Pepper
12 sprigs parsley
2 cloves garlic
20 sage leaves
Pizza dough for 1 pizza
½ lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the butternut crosswise just above the bulge. Cut off the top about ½ below the stem and the bottom as well. Peel the two squash pieces. Cut both pieces lengthwise and then cut ¼ inch slices (after removing seeds from bottom half). You will have half moons for the upper part, and elongated C shapes from the bottom half. Brush the slices with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast about 30 minutes or until the slices are lightly browned and tender to the touch.

Meanwhile, peel and chop fine the garlic and add to about ¼ c. olive oil. When the squash slices are done, remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 450 to 500 degrees. Brush the prepared pizza crust with the olive oil and garlic, and sprinkle evenly with the mozzarella and Gruyere. Arrange the slices of cooked squash over the cheese. Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes, until the crust is browned and the cheeses have melted. While the pizza is baking, chop the parsley leaves. Fry the sage leaves briefly in hot olive oil, then drain them on an absorbent towel. When the pizza is done, garnish with the sage leaves, the chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon.

The only change I made was adding sliced baked acorn squash to the butternut squash. I made my own pizza crust because I think it tastes so much better. I resorted to a pizza pan instead of cooking it directly on my pizza stone so I could more easily share the photos of the finished pie. I had my doubts about enjoying this pizza. I'm a classic thin crust, deeply flavored tomato sauce, cheese with pepperoni kinda gal. I'm not much for white pizzas. If there's no tomato sauce baked into that delicious thin crust where do you get the umami flavor?More than plenty umami going on here. The squash is tender and just a little bit sweet but melds so nicely with the tangy cheese (and under layer of bits of garlic) with the fried sage. Make sure you use the best olive oil for all parts of this recipe, it makes a huge difference and is an integral part of the flavor profile. Don't punk out on the fried sage and sprinklings of parsley, it's delicious. It's a wonderfully bright fresh taste and certainly a change from my normal pizza routine. An excellent fall feast.

Dim Sum Sunday - Spring Vegetables

For my spring vegetable dishes I chose to use Asparagus and Artichokes, both of which are in plentiful supply. I turned to Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables for my Artichoke recipe.

Artichokes Baked with Anchovy Stuffing
4 large artichokes
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 onions
6 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 sprigs thyme
1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup pitted niçoise olives
Stuffing:
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 salt-packed anchovies
1-1/3 cups toasted bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Splash of white wine
Extra-virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
A few sprigs thyme
Parsley
Pare the artichokes down to their hearts and scoop out the chokes with a spoon. Drop the hearts into water acidulated with lemon juice (or rub them with a little olive oil) to prevent them from discoloring. Set aside.
Peel the onions and garlic and slice very thin. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan, add the onions, garlic, and sprigs of thyme, and cook slowly for 10 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add about 1/4 cup of the white wine and cook 2 minutes more. Season to taste. Reserve about 1/4 cup of this onion mixture and set aside. Spread the rest of the onion mixture in a small, nonreactive baking dish large enough to hold the artichokes. Scatter the olives over the onions. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
To make the stuffing, grate the zest from the lemon; chop the parsley; and rinse, fillet, and chop the anchovies. Mix together with the reserved onion mixture and the bread crumbs.
Stuff each artichoke with one quarter of this mixture and place the artichokes stuffed side down on the bed of onions and olives in the baking dish. Season generously with salt and pepper. Splash a little white wine over them and drizzle with olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar. Strew with a few sprigs of thyme, cover the artichokes with parchment paper, and cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Bake for 60 to 90 minutes, until the artichokes can be easily pierced with a knife.
Serves 4. I added a little pancetta to the top but frankly this recipe did not make me want to repeat this effort. The stuffing seemed uninspiring and the artichoke itself was bland.The Asparagus, on the other hand, was much more successful. This month's Cook's Country, sister magazine to Cook's Illustrated, has a recipe for Broiled Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette that I highly recommend. Nothing could be easier than broiling asparagus.The last component to my Sunday dinner was Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp Salad. Ina is one of the few chefs on the Food Network I enjoy and it's recipes like this make me want to tune into her show. The freshness of the orange zest really pops with the roasted shrimp. Pairing the zesty asparagus with the creaminess of the shrimp salad was a nice contrast. Two winners out of three's not bad.

Stop eating my soup!

Now that dire economic times are upon us, we must do our utmost to ensure that the comestibles upon which our hard earned money is spent do not fall into foreign hands... I am speaking, of course, of lunch theft.Lunch thievery, I suspect, has been a problem since the first human tied a bit of hide around a chunk of mammoth jerky to be consumed during a quick break from hunting, foraging and dragging his or her woman around by the hair. And as long as there are those thrifty and thoughtful enough to bring their lunch from home, there will be those ballsy enough to consume said lunch without hesitation or remorse. But fear not, there are solutions...Pack a lunch that is just too weird to steal. I'm not sure how appealing it would be to snag a lunch that has the ability to stare you down. Back in the day, it helped to have a mother that packed a lunch that no one else would eat. Alice Waters started her daughter Fanny off right. Fanny remembers how she'd carry "a 10-pound lunchbox" to school, filled with Alice's big salads topped with prosciutto or fresh mozzarella, macerated fruit for dessert and linen napkins. "I never got teased," Fanny says. "Most of my friends were envious." I never had that problem. My mother was of the Tony Bourdain "Anything Goes" school of lunch thought, providing me with big thick beef tongue sandwiches on dark pumpernickel bread, dressed with a hearty mustard. Trust me, no one ever asked for tradesies...(Psssst! Click on my tongue for a tasty recipe!)Of course, you can always let the lunch container itself be your line of defense...This plan works especially well if you know someone who can get you some "lunch bags" that no one in their right mind would explore... But if all of these suggestions fail, there is always one tried and true recipe for success...That's right, I'm talking about the ever popular "Ex-Lax Brownie". Now mind you, it's not an instant fix, but once word of what happens when folks eat your cooking gets around, not only will your lunches be left untouched, but you'll also never get stuck in the dread office pot-luck loop again!

I hope this has been helpful to those of you who bring their lunch (or have ever considered stealing mine...) Carry on!

The mind boggles...

"A distinguished panel of "Scientists and Stars" met over lunch to discuss the epidemic of childhood obesity..."

Read the full story at SF Eater

Thanks, Eggy!