The Extent of My Experience

In elementary school, we had to participate in the science fair as an assignment for class.   Science has never really been my strong suit; I was always better equipped to proofread a friend's book report than be someone's lab partner.  I'm okay with it, mostly because I am an excellent proofreader, but I remember envying classmates science fair entries.

My best friend project was paper that had flecks of real flower petals in them.  She did a demonstration for the class on how she made it.  It was amazing.  The purpose of her project was to show that our paper waste could be made into something new and special by recycling it.  My project felt silly in comparison.  I dyed muslin using different ingredients found in nature:  tea leaves for yellow, coffee grounds for brown, red cabbage for purple, and beets for red.  I had to boil my ingredients to extract the color so I couldn't do a live demonstration of the process.  I missed my opportunity to relate it to current events, social issues, environmental concerns, or anything that would make the understanding of dyes important for my classmates to know about.  I think my grade for that project was a B and I didn't win any awards in the fair. 

Between the science fair project and finding them pickled on the salad bar at a local restaurant, that was the extent of my experience with beets until adulthood.  Then they seemed to be everywhere--either finally it became chic to eat beets or I had only just starting noticing them.  I had a beautifully composed beet salad at the Brown Dog Cafe with my friend Sharon, and I was reminded that I do like their flavor.  They remind me of a savory carrot, with a deeper, earthier flavor that fills the mouth with each bite. 

I wanted to make a few different dishes using the small bunch I picked up at the market.  Roasting and pureeing the beets seemed the easiest route to do this, and it was incredibly easy.  I trimmed the root and stem ends from the beets and gave them a good scrub.  I then placed them in a baking dish with about a 1/4 cup of water and covered the dish with foil.  I put them in a preheated 425 degree F oven for about an hour.  Then I took the baking dish out of the oven, discarded the foil, and let the beets cool for about 20 minutes.  With gloved hands--because I knew from my science fair days that beets will stain anything they touch--I peeled off their skins, roughly chopped the flesh, and placed them in a food processor.  I pulsed the food processor until the beets were broken down into very small pieces but not quite down as far as, say, a sauce.  I had about a cup and a half of puree from three medium sized beets. I let the mixture cool all the way down to room temperature and then stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator until I was ready to use it. 

If you make this in advance as I did, you can keep the beet puree for up to a week in the refrigerator in a sealed container or freeze it for later use.  I'll be back in a few days to show you what I did with it! 

A Fall State of Mind

One morning last week, as I was leaving the house to go to work, I realized that the morning sun was reflecting off the frosted grass as if it were glass. As I stood there wondering where the warm weather had gone I decided I should go back inside and grab a sweater and my sunglasses.

The first frost came upon me so unexpectedly that my internal food compass (the one I told you about last month) pointed me towards winter squash and root vegetables.  I started mentally preparing this week's menu while I sat in my office chilled to the bone.  I wanted to make anything that would warm me up from the inside out.

But then today, in contrast to the last week, I walked outside to a warm, bright afternoon with temperatures nearing 90 degrees.  Ninety.  In mid-October.

That's Ohio for you.  

I decided to keep my menu for this week as I planned it.  I'm in a fall state of mind, and there is no turning back. 

I spent much of my Sunday afternoon multi-tasking between organizing the mountains of clean (and dirty) laundry we've accumulated, catching up on some episodes of Cook's Country, and starting to prep some time consuming ingredients for dinners this week.  

I got the inspiration for risotto from Cooking After Five.  Nicole took pumpkin puree and mixed it in with her stock, infusing the stock with the flavor of the pumpkin.  Then when she added the stock to the rice, the pumpkin flavor, but not the bulk of the puree, was transferred to the rice.  

I opted to swap the pumpkin for butternut squash.  And in order to have some pureed butternut squash, I was going to need to make it myself.  Using the method that I saw on Annie's Eats, I sliced a 3.5 lb squash lengthwise, cleaned out the seeds, and put both halves cut side down on a cookie sheet.  I added a cup of water and roasted them for 75 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.  

When I took them out, the flesh of the squash was soft.  I let them cool for about 25 minutes while I folded a few loads of laundry (it won't go away unless I take care of it).  Then I scooped out the soft squash and added it to the food processor, discarding the skins.  I pulsed the food processor until the squash was pureed and there were no more chunks.  Then, in the manner that Annie did, I lined a mesh strainer with a paper towel and attempted to strain out some water from the puree.  

But truthfully, after an hour sitting in the strainer, no excess water had been strained out.  When I went back to consult Annie's photos, my squash puree was much thicker than her pumpkin, and I guess the flesh of squash is just not as watery.  

So, I measured the squash out in 2 cup increments and labeled the plastic containers.  For me, a 3.5lb butternut squash made about 4 cups of squash puree.  I'm going to keep one container in the fridge to be used  in my risotto, but that only calls for 1 cup.  I might have to get creative to find a way to use the other cup.  Any ideas?  


I will toss the other container in my freezer, stacked on top of our homemade tomato sauce and a few batches of frozen pot-stickers.  If I keep making big batches of things, I'm going to end up needing a second deep freeze.  


I have a few other thing to prep this evening so that Tim won't be waiting for hours after work to eat (he likes to eat on a schedule!) but I think I will surprise you with those.  

Just think fall food and check back here later this week to see how my week of warm dinners went.