Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This recipe is THE reason I bought my immersion blender! I first got the recipe from my dear friend Kaitlin. We made it together back in 2012. I’m pretty sure I went home that night and ordered my immersion blender from Amazon before I did anything else!! (I have this one, by the way! Cheap and it works great!) I have made this soup at least once every fall since then!

When Kaitlin and I made this recipe together, I don’t think I had ever had butternut squash before. I was AMAZED at how delicious it is! This recipe is still my favorite one for butternut squash soup. The combination of the apples and the butternut squash is great. And how excited was I when I found apples, butternut squash, and leeks in my CSA box??? SO excited! Plus, I already had cider from making applesauce. It was a sign that I just had to make my first batch of the season. I highly recommend it!

Serves: about 8 1-cup servings

Time: about 45 minutes to roast the squash, then about 45 minutes for the soup. Most of this is not active!

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (You can replace half of the butter with olive oil or coconut oil if you wish. I’ve done both. I’ve also just done a couple tablespoons instead of all 4.)
• 2 leeks, well washed and coarsely chopped (I have used onions when leeks weren’t around!)
• 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
• 1 butternut squash (mine was kind of small for this batch, but it still worked okay. Medium is better!)
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary, or a heaping 1/2 tsp of dried (which is what I normally do, but if you have access to fresh rosemary definitely use it)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup apple cider
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1) Prep the butternut squash: Carefully cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place in a baking dish or on a rimmed cookie sheet. Cover with foil and roast 35-40 minutes at 425 degrees until tender when pricked with a fork. This time mine took more like 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and then scoop out the filling from the skin, discarding the rind. When I take mine out of the oven, that’s when I start the rest of the soup. By the time I’m ready to add the squash it’s basically cool enough to handle. If you have more time you can let it cool more.

2) Soup time! Melt the butter and/or oil in a large soup pot.  Add the leeks, celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat until the leeks are tender and very fragrant.  Add the squash, apples, rosemary, broth, and cider.  At this point you can also add a pinch of salt and some pepper. (You will season again to taste at the end.) Bring to a simmer and cook partially covered over low heat for about 30 minutes. At this point, an immersion blender comes in handy. It makes blending the soup SO easy. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can also carefully transfer the (slightly cooled) soup into a regular blender and blend, perhaps in batches. When the soup is as smooth as you like it, taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!

PS This soup also freezes beautifully!

Slow-Roasted Grape Tomato Spread

I tried this recipe for the first time towards the end of the summer, and it quickly became my favorite way to use up the grape tomatoes from my CSA boxes! The spread tasted DELICIOUS with some goat cheese and pasta! I’m so happy that I have more of this in the freezer now to last me through the winter. If you’re into trying new things, whether it be canning or making homemade almond butter or granola, you should check out Marisa McClellan’s blog over at Food In Jars. It’s one of my favorites. I have both of her cookbooks and they are amazing!

from Preserving by the Pint

Serves: makes about 1 cup, which is probably enough for about 4 servings of pasta

Time: about 40 minutes total

Ingredients:

• 1 pint grape tomatoes (which is about 12 oz, this is approximate)
• 5 garlic cloves
• 3/4 tsp dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, or whichever salt you prefer
• black pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spread the clean tomatoes onto a rimmed cookie sheet or baking dish.

2) Add the garlic cloves randomly on the dish, spread throughout the tomatoes. Sprinkle the thyme, salt, and pepper, then drizzle the olive oil over all.

3) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and shriveled. Take the dish out of the oven and let it cool. Then put the contents of the dish into your food processor. Pulse it until the tomatoes have become a chunky puree. You can make it chunkier or smoother to your liking.

4) To store this spread, put it in an airtight container and top it with a thin layer of olive oil. Then you can keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to a year.

5) To serve, try tossing some with pasta and goat (or your favorite) cheese, or add it to omelets. I’m sure there are many other uses for this…I’m picturing it with some chicken…but personally I thought it was fabulous with pasta!

Finally…a CSA Update!

I haven’t had a chance to post pictures of my CSA boxes lately, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been awesome! I’ve been loving the fall produce that comes every Tuesday in my box. I’m seriously going to miss getting my CSA box every week when the seasons ends in November!

Here are a few pictures of some of my recent boxes along with any interesting things I might have made with the produce. I’m going from oldest to newest, although I am not sure about the exact dates since it’s been awhile!

Above you can see one of my late summer boxes. I used many of the tomatoes to make this amazing roasted tomato puree, which I will post soon. The jalapeños found their way into my corn chowder, and I also froze some to make some hot pepper jelly.

Here is a similar box, with some summer squash and cucumber. I actually tried making zucchini “noodles” with some of the squash and it worked pretty well!!

I could tell fall was coming with this box came! The spaghetti squash was a very welcome addition. I roasted it and ate it with some tomato & meat sauce! Spaghetti squash is so amazing…I know that even if I don’t get any more from my CSA I will be buying it from the grocery store again soon.

This box was from about 2 weeks ago. I was jumping for joy when I saw the butternut squash! It’s one of my favorites!! AND it was perfect that I got leeks with it, because my favorite butternut squash soup recipe calls for leeks. (And apples!!) Of course I took pictures as I made it, and you’ll see it here on the blog soon!

This is last week’s box! I was totally intrigued by the purple carrots in the front. Apparently they are quite similar to regular carrots. I’m going to cook them soon, maybe with some marmalade and butter. I was excited for the pears because I haven’t had any yet this fall. They have been tasty! I also am excited to use the beets. The acorn squash is intriguing…still not sure what I’m going to do with it! Any ideas?

Corn has become a bit of a running joke with my boyfriend and I because I keep getting it in the boxes and it just piles up and I don’t know how to use it all! I froze a bunch of it but my freezer is full…lately I’ve just been giving it away! I’m still grateful to be getting such wonderful sweet corn this fall.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of all the CSA boxes! I promise from now until the end of the season I will post them more often. What’s your favorite fall produce?

Corn Chowder

It’s been quite awhile since my last post! Things at work have been busy, and I’ve also been busy doing things in the evening. I’ve been spending lots of time cooking, and I’ve even got a memory card full of pictures to upload, but I haven’t been finding the time lately to edit & upload my pictures and write posts! But this week I’m going to try to develop a bit of a schedule that I’ll be able to stick to for updating this blog. In the meantime, make sure to follow me on Instagram at myjerseykitchen (check out the sidebar at the right for a link).

Today I’m sharing a recipe that I have already made twice in the span of a few months. With the CSA I’ve been getting delicious soup, which means that I’ve had to come up with some creative ways to use it. I can only eat so much corn on the cob! This corn chowder was amazing and I highly recommend it.

Here’s how I cut my kernels off the cobs.

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
Serves: 9 1-cup servings
Time: about 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 5 green onions
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 celery stalks, chopped (optional but suggested)
• 1 large carrot, chopped (optional but suggested)
• 2 bell peppers (any color), seeds removed and chopped
• 4 small potatoes or 2 medium
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 3 ears of corn, kernels cut off. Save the empty cobs to use in the soup. (You can also use 2 cups frozen or canned corn.)
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. salt, plus more to taste, and black pepper to taste
• dash or pinch of cayenne pepper, depending on your spice tolerance

Directions:

1) Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Then add your celery and carrot, if using, plus your peppers and potatoes. Also add in the broth and your empty cobs (if you have them). Cook this until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

2) In a bowl, whisk together the flour and milk, then add to your pot and stir to combine. Add your corn kernels, thyme, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Simmering away!

3) Remove empty cobs, if you used them. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Sauteed Green Beans

This summer, I’ve gotten quite a few green beans in my CSA boxes. As a kid, I really didn’t like green beans. I’ve learned to like them as an adult, but I still wasn’t sure what to do with so many green beans! I did make the delicious warm green bean salad back in August, but I have also been experimenting with quick and easy ways to make green beans as a side dish. My favorite so far is to sautee them. It’s very simple yet tasty!

Serves: 2 as a side

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• green beans– however many you expect to eat. About 2 cups is good for 2 people. Snap the ends off and wash them before you begin.
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (I like to use flavor-infused olive oil to add interest. Lemon olive oil is one of my favorites)
• bowl of ice water
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Bring a pot of water to a boil. You need enough so that the green beans will be completely submerged. Add a pinch of salt.

2) Add the green beans to the boiling water and boil for about 2 minutes. The green beans will be bright green.

3) Drain and immediately dump the green beans into the bowl of ice water. Let it sit while you heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet.

4) When the olive oil is hot, drain the green beans again and dry off as best you can. Put the green beans in the skillet. Stir a bit as you sautee them. You want them hot and a bit crispy. This takes around 5 minutes.

5) Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Eggplant Pizzas

When I got the eggplant from my CSA recently, I was kind of at a loss about what to do with it. I have the great Eggplant Rollatini recipe, which I love, but I didn’t have the other ingredients I needed and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to get them. With school starting I’ve switched into quick-and-easy mode, at least during the week!! So I did a quick Google search and I came upon the idea of making mini-eggplant pizzas! They are SO quick, easy, and delish!!

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

Time: about 10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking

Serves: about 4 appetizer portions, depending on the size of your eggplant

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or small eggplant
• shredded mozzarella cheese (the amount is up to you, but I probably used about 3/4 cup shredded)
• tomato sauce (again, the amount will vary depending on your eggplant. Maybe 1/2-3/4 cup total)
• olive oil spray
• Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Preheat the oven to 375. I tried a few in my toaster oven and some in my regular oven, and they worked well in both types. Slice your eggplant into rounds. You don’t want them to be TOO thin, because then they will be floppy and impossible to pick up. Just use a knife and slice them about 1/2 inches thick.

2. Place the eggplant slices in one layer on the cookie sheet. Bake the eggplant for about 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway.

3. Take a small spoonful of tomato sauce and spread it on each eggplant round. Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on each.

4. Sprinkle a little (or a lot!) of shredded mozzarella on each slice.

5. Put the cookie sheet back into the oven and cook for about 6-8 more minutes, until the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!!!

 

CSA Updates

You may or may not know that I’m a teacher by day (and food blogger by night!) So now that we’re back into the school year, I haven’t been able to find time to post. I’m hoping to get back into a routine and make time to write. I’m starting to feel like I’m really getting back into the swing of things at work, which is great. The thing about teaching is every school year it can feel like you’re starting over, which is both a good and a bad thing!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been receiving more great CSA boxes! I haven’t picked mine up yet for this week, but here are pictures from the past couple weeks.

Highlights from two weeks ago:

• I got a watermelon! I cut it up into manageable chunks and gave some away. I still have some in my fridge, and I’m planning to experiment with a watermelon & feta salad soon.
• eggplant: I ended up making eggplant pizzas with this, which were great! If you follow me on Instagram (see the link at the right), you already saw pictures of this. I’m planning to write it up into a blog post soon.
• more green beans, tomatoes, and fruit!

Last week:

Last week’s box was great. As you can see, I got:

• corn (gave some away and made some corn salsa!)
• potatoes
• nectarines (Love them raw!)
• cherry bomb peppers (stuffed these with ricotta and goat cheese, then baked them. Yum)
• cherry tomatoes (made a great pasta dish from Cooking Light)
• 2 random peppers (Hungarian Hot and Anaheim) (froze some for jelly, plus used some in the corn salsa)
• red bell pepper (froze this for jelly or anything else)
• 2 apples
• a red onion (used in the corn salsa)
• 2 heads of broccoli

It’s been fun seeing the new things I’ve been getting as the summer produce ends and fall begins!

Warm Green Bean and Tomato “Salad”

This is another one of the recipes inspired by the cookbook I bought in Charleston. It was perfect because it allowed me to use several different veggies from my CSA! I changed the recipe around quite a bit to lighten it up. The cookbook calls it a warm salad, but I don’t really think of it as a salad…more like a veggie side dish. It was delicious!

Adapted from Taste of the Lowcountry

Serves: 4-6 as an appetizer

Time: about 10 minutes prep, 10 minutes to cook

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. green beans, ends trimmed
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp oil (canola or olive oil will work)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• splash of sherry, if you have it
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 3 small tomatoes (or maybe 2 medium), roughly chopped and seeds mostly squeezed out and discarded
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp sugar
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1) Blanch the green beans: Fill a mixing bowl with water and ice, and set aside. Bring a pot of water to boil. Make sure there’s enough water to cover your green beans. Put the green beans in and boil them for about 2 minutes. Then drain the green beans and put them in the bowl of ice water. Drain.

2) Put the butter and the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. After the butter has melted, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

3) Add the green beans, vinegar, sherry, all the tomatoes, garlic, and sugar to the pan. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and serve.

CSA Update!

I picked up my latest CSA box on Tuesday. Last week, while I was away on vacation, Andrew’s mom picked it up. She froze the blueberries and the peppers for me and enjoyed using the rest of the contents. I’m so glad that it got used even though I was out of town. It’s great that you can have someone else pick up your box if you go away.

This week I got a great box although nothing really new or very exciting. Kind of more of the same things I’ve been getting. But that’s okay because I know everything will be delicious!

I got:

• lettuce (will be great for salad!)
• scallions (some of these will go into some corn fritters soon!)
• peaches (mmmm…)
• grape tomatoes (I’m planning to use these in salads)
• radishes (I guess salads???)
• 1 onion (these always come in handy!)
• beans (these are a really interesting very dark color. I’m going to try making a warm salad with them)
• corn (going to try some corn fritters!)
• blueberries (I love having these with yogurt and granola)

 

Eggplant Rollatini

Yesterday I got home after a great vacation at Edisto Beach in South Carolina. It was so nice to be at the beach for a week! We got to enjoy lots of great seafood and Southern specialties. I got a couple little cookbooks so I’m excited to try out some new recipes soon.

Growing up, I was never a fan of eggplant. Then one day I tried eggplant rollatini and realized how great it can be! This recipe is originally by Gina at Skinnytaste. I made this before vacation with my CSA eggplant. It tastes great and also freezes well! Depending on the size of your eggplants, you may get a few more or fewer pieces. One time I made this, I had some filling left over. I froze it and then the next time I had an eggplant, I defrosted it and made a batch of rollatini. It worked so well that next time I may just double the filling ingredients and freeze half for later!

Served alongside some fried veggies!

Serves: about 5 (2 pieces each)

Time: about 30 minutes prep time, 60 minutes bake time

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant, cut longways into around 10 1/4-inch strips (If your eggplant is on the smaller side, get 2!)
• salt & pepper
• 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
• 8 oz frozen spinach, heated and then squeezed well (I use paper towels to help get out as much liquid as possible)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1) To slice the eggplant: Cut the ends off the eggplant and then slice into 1/4 in. strips. This is probably easiest to do using a mandoline, but you can use a knife too.

2) Put the eggplant slices onto a couple of baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt. Let them sit for about 10-15 minutes and then soak up the moisture with paper towels.

3) Sprinkle the eggplant with a little more salt and some pepper, and bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. You want the eggplant to be softened so you’ll be able to roll them, but you don’t want them totally cooked yet.

4) In a bowl, mix the egg, ricotta and Parmesan, spinach, garlic, plus 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.

5) Get ready to make the rollatini! Spread 1/4 cup marinara in your baking dish. Dry off your eggplant slices again. For each slice of eggplant, take 2 tbsp filling and spread out all along the slice. Then roll them up, starting at the narrowest side of the slice. Lay each slice seam side down in the dish. Repeat for all your eggplant. If you have a few smaller slices, go ahead and put some filling on those too!

6) Spread the rest of the marinara all over the rollatini. Sprinkle with the mozzarella. Cover with foil or a lid, if your dish has one.

7) Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!