Butternut Squash: a new favorite

I absolutely love reading food blogs. Recently I've become obsessed with smitten kitchen and it's author, Deb. I want to try every recipe she posts. When I saw her recipe for Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette, I knew I needed to try it out as soon as possible. I've only cooked butternut squash one other time so I kind of expected this recipe to turn into a disaster (and it almost did when I rolled out the dough). Luckily, it all turned out fine in the end. It was the perfect meal to get me in the mood for fall. I'm pretty sure I need to make this again. Soon.

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette

For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash (about one pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons butter (if you have only non-stick, the smaller amount will do)
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
3/4 cup fontina cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces), grated or cut into small bits (I used Havarti because my grocery store was out of Fontina. The joys of living in Utah...)
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves (I used dried sage because I was too cheap to buy a whole package of fresh sage.)

1. Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. (this part was kind of tricky. In the future I would just mix it all together in one bowl) Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Prepare squash: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a 1/2-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined (for neatness sake) sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender, turning it midway if your oven bakes unevenly. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Caramelize onions: While squash is roasting, melt butter in a heavy skillet and cook onion over low heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

4. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, cheese and herbs together in a bowl.

5. Assemble galette: On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the border over the squash, onion and cheese mixture, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

6. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Serves 6.

Welcome to Summer

Yesterday was sunny and beautiful, so Brittney and I went to the park.

We sat under a tree and let our legs get some sun. Later on we checked out an antique store on Center Street that Sandi told me about. I found a necklace I'm in love with and I might need to go back for it.

Bryan and I picked cherries from his Grandpa's cherry tree which is completely loaded with fruit. We picked two big bags and I even climbed the tree to get some of the high up ones. They taste amazing and I'm excited to try out some cherry-related recipes.

breakfast

the most important meal of the day

When you don't have church until 1:00 pm, it leaves a lot of free time in the morning. This usually results in me sleeping in late, but this particular Sunday morning Brittney and I decided to make breakfast together. I had recently discovered an amazing recipe for French Toast, and Brittney had her Grandmother's recipe for homemade maple syrup, so it was a great collaboration.

Even though the two of us typically photo-document everything we do, we somehow forgot to take pictures of the whole cooking process, so unfortunately I only have pictures of the end result.

French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup half-and-half (we used milk)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale bread
4 tables spoons butter

Directions

In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, and salt. Pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes (we put it back on the cooling rack and sheet pan to avoid getting the oven dirty). Repeat with all 8 slices. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream, or fruit.

Homemade maple syrup and orange juice completed our perfect meal. It was a great way to start the day.

how I survived winter

When you grow up in a place as beautiful as California, is can be difficult to spend upwards of four months with no sun and tons of snow. The only way to counteract the depressing effects of a Utah winter is to constantly do fun things. I can't say I always succeed in this, but I try, so I thought I'd show a few of my recent attempts to survive winter

My friend RT helped me make Crème Brûlée. The best part was when we got to use a cooking torch to caramelize the sugar on top. They turned out surprisingly good (considering my last attempt at making crème brûlée tasted like pure egg yolk)

The MOA (Museum of Art) typically has some cool exhibits. Currently there is an exhibit by Dan Steinhilber. I went to the reception with Alyx and Allison, and we got to meet the artist. The artist had some BYU students (mainly art majors) help him set up all his pieces, so Alyx and I both helped work on this one which is made up of balloons

This piece is made up of hundreds of packets of duck sauce. I thought it looked like a tile mosaic. The color was amazing.
When Ryan went to California for his volleyball tournament, I had the car for a week, and we definitely tried to make the most of our time with the car. We went thrift shopping in Salt Lake and then had lunch at the Bakery (which has the most amazing food). I got a turkey and avocado sandwich with French onion soup.
...which I devoured.

And of course we got dessert: you can't skip dessert at a French bakery.

We found an old phone booth near the bakery and had fun taking tons of pictures in it.
Allison brought me Valentine's Day cookies. I thought the cupid one was hilarious. Alyssa and I made tons of sugar cookies, and had a semi-party with people from my ward.