We spent the weekend hunkered down, enjoying hearth and home. George added some more articles to his blog, Baha'i Views, and I cooked some taste-thrills.
This stuffed spaghetti squash was served for dinner last night with Arugula Salad with Orange-Ginger Sauce. The squash was first roasted whole, then stuffed with chorizo sausage, bread-crumbs, garlic, onions, parsley, and shredded cheese. Then the squash was baked again for 20 minutes. It was light, and so delicious that I had another serving for my breakfast this morning.
We had a few sun-breaks over the weekend.
George did some projects out in the yard. He pulled down the last of his green bean plants along the south side of the house. We went to a Baha'i fireside Saturday night and I brought Pumpkin Cookies.
They were so good, so soft and flavorful, that I'll post the ingredients: 4 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup oil
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 can Libby's pumpkin (16 oz can)
3 tsp cinnamon nutmeg, fresh ground
2 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
a few butterscotch morsels (top)
I served the little pumpkin cookies with our lunch on Sunday.
It was an eclectic blend of east-Indian black mape bean dal, Butternut squash with Moroccan spices, mustard greens, Jasmine rice, and meatballs in a thin molasses-chocolate sauce similar to Mole Sauce.I used a red-lentil recipe for the dal, which has three processes for the dal: prepare the lentils or beans; simmer a mixture of vegetables for flavorings; and make a flavored sauce. Turmeric, chilies, fresh ginger, garlic and panch phoran provide the spices and flavorings.
The mustard greens grow along the side of the house, and I've been cooking them almost every day, usually in a stir-fry with fresh ground nutmeg. Next year I hope to grow a lot more since they are so easy to prepare and are so nutritious. I stir-fried them with onion, garlic, yellow raisins, huckleberries, and mild chorizo sausage.
After I steamed my squash, I mashed it lightly, adding brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, east-Indian curry, coriander, and paprika. I used pan drippings from the chorizo sausage to make beautiful red patterns on the top of the squash.
The down-side of most east-Indian cooking, though, is that it just doesn't photograph well - so many dark, mushy colors. But, the upside of the cooking I did was the aroma - of sausage and garlic, of pumpkin, coriander, molasses and chocolate, panch phoran, of Jasmine Rice. It made the kitchen smell heavenly all weekend.
