Butternut Squash Tart for Thanksgiving

We were invited to a proper Canadian Thanksgiving feast this year ... some folks we met through our antenatal classes have had a Canadian friend visiting over the last week and she wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving ... and they invited us along.  I offered to bring the pumpkin pie (any excuse).  Unfortunately, life with a little monster means that sometimes plans have to be cancelled at the last minute.  After 2 very busy social days Lyra found it very difficult to nap at all yesterday morning and only finally closed her eyes after much protest 20 mins before we were supposed to leave the house for the party.  I could't face waking her up and getting ready and then walking to our friends' house ... so I had to cancel.  It was sad, but it is part of having a new-ish baby.  They understood ... 

And ... as they pointed out ... even though I was missing out on the turkey and trimmings at least I could still have pie! Thank goodness for that! I love pumpkin pie, I love the texture, I love the spices, I love the mountain of whipped cream plopped on top ... I love it all and while tinned pumpkin is becoming easier to find here in Edinburgh I still prefer to make it with butternut squash.  The flavour is slightly mellower, I think ... plus it is so easy (ok, not as easy as opening a tin...but still pretty easy).  

I like to buy a squash that is just over 1kg, I cut it in half length wise, scoop out the seeds, place it cut side down on a roasting tray and then roast untill super soft.  Then all I do is use a fork to scrape the flesh out of one half, mash it up a bit and let it cool while I get the rest of the filling/tart shell ready. 

I use a 2cm deep flan ring with a loose bottom and find that the flesh from half a squash is enough (it usually measures just over a cup of mashed squash).  It might not be a traditional pie plate, but I like the daintiness of the fluted edge when it comes out of the tin.  Yesterday I used shop bought pastry (did you read the bit about the new baby?) to make everything a bit easier, and it was.  

While the squash is cooling and the tart base is blind baking I mixed up 2 medium eggs, 50g of light brown sugar, 100ml evaporated milk, 60ml maple syrup (or golden), and some spices: 3/4tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp all spice, 1/4 tsp ginger, and a good grating of nutmeg...oh and pinch of salt.  Once the tart base was ready I blended the squash in with the rest of the filling, poured it into the base, topped with pastry maple leaves and baked at 150 for about 45 mins (until set).  

It really is so so so easy.  I've mashed up the other half of the squash and put it in the freezer for Christmas (if I can wait that long).  

Gobble Gobble Gobble 

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Vegetable Cream Cheese

I've not been venturing far from the house these past couple of weeks.  Between the heat and my looming D-Day I haven't had the energy or the desire to do much of anything.  I've been watching a lot of The Food Network and slowly making my way though the entire Poirot discography...resulting in many a craving for pastries, art deco tea parties and frantically adjusting the symmetry in my living room. I don't have the energy to make eclairs or croissants...even though I'd happily sit down and stuff my face full of them, weep.  

On Friday (or was it Saturday?) The Barefoot Contessa whipped up a quick brunch for her and her publisher...as you do...and I immediately started craving bagels and cream cheese.  Back in Canada, in my teens and twenties I used to love a trip to the bagel store to get fresh bagels and really thick and slightly tart cream cheese...siiigh 

Anyway, Ina made her publisher bagels with vegetable cream cheese and smoked salmon (drooool) and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for...well...a day!  Luckily bagels and cream cheese were to hand (a pregnancy staple of mine) and with a little fine chopping I was well on my way to satisfying my craving.  

I mixed together half a container of plain soft cream cheese with a finely chopped small carrot, some spring onion, finely chopped cucumber, a handful of chopped coriander and salt and pepper.  Slathered very generously on toasted multi-grain bagels...this was HEAVEN.  

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A Sweet Potato Kind of Day

The weather up here has been horrible, it has been cold and wet and windy and on the few recent days the sun has come out...it has still rained.  I am wearing my winter clothes for the most part and have just realised that the heating bill will definitely be eating into my social money this month.

On the way home from work yesterday I mentally zipped through my meal planner to determine what would be perfect for a Friday night dinner in front of the tv, wrapped up in a number of blankets.  On a Friday we usually make a pizza and settle in for the night, but this week the pizza has been reserved for the big football match Saturday night...so something else needed to jump to the rescue.

Sweet Potato Cakes.

Yotam Ottolenghi's Sweet Potato Cakes are delicious, filling and comforting. Think about it, soft sweet sweet potato mashed up with chili and green onion and then pan fried in blobs until crispy on the outside. A plate piled high with these orange fritters, tangy greek yoghurt herb sauce, a big salad and some fresh homemade flatbreads just screams "it's the weekend" to me.  

The recipe says to steam the sweet potato in large chunks.  I don't have a steamer and I did my best to steam them in about a cm of water in a saucepan...but next time I think I would bake them in their skins in the oven and then scoop out the flesh still leaving it a little bit chunky.  

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Sprouts! Sprouts! Everywhere Sprouts!

I love me a brussel sprout...in fact I love me a whole PILE of brussel sprouts.  Thank God David likes them too! Tis the season for sprouts and I just can't get enough!!  I like them roasted, boiled, steamed, shredded, fried....with bacon, with chestnuts, with other veg....I LOVE THEM!

I especially love them when I am so full of a stupid cold that I can't be motivated to do much more than cook to feel some comfort.  Because I am home alone, all day....I have been left to fend for my sick self...there is no one here to care for me, to cook for me, to hand me Kleenex...just me....lounging in my pile of tissues. 

Today I did manage to pull on some sweatpants and trudge over to the market to get some comfort food for tonight's dinner (solo...David is well enough to go out...I am not...BOO).  Sausages, mashed potatoes and....yup! you guessed it...BRUSSEL SPROUTS!

The easy way out would have been to just throw them in some boiling salted water and let them bubble away.  But, sitting infront of the TV this afternoon, I decided that I would make a brussels recipe of my mum's that she got from Laura Calder's French Food at Home.  There is a great deal of preparation, but doing the majority of that watching mindless television made it easier for my poor snot filled brain. 

First, you separate all the leaves of the brussel sprouts...easily done sitting on the couch (as long as you are prepared to pick bits of sprout off your carpet).  Then you slice up some pieces of bacon and fy those off.  After you take the bacon out of the pan you pop the brussel sprout leaves into the bacon fat in the hot pan and you fry until the leaves have wilted.  And then.....the best bit....you add the bacon bits back into the pan!

Sprouts and bacon are old friends so there is no doubt that this will be good.  And, despite my cold...IT IS!

My nose is red and sore and my lips are chapped...I am going to be a fine sight on Christmas...but hey! at least my tummy is happy and I haven't lost my sense of taste quite yet!