Butternut Squash Ravioli with sage butter

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Toasted Pine Nuts and Sage Butter

Steamed Asparagus in sage butter

For the asparagus, I basically drizzled leftover butter sauce over them.  I would make the sauce just to add to the asparagus it was soooooo good. (brown butter, add toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, and sage. Voila!)

Carmelized Baby Bananas with Almond Brittle and Vanilla Ice Cream

Again a winner for dinner!  

A definite "Do Again" dinner from the cooking critics in my house.

The sounds in my house went like this... 

"Mom! the smells are overpoweringly delicious, WHEN is dinner?"  

and like this... 

"Please, Mom, take the pictures quickly because it smells and looks so good!"

It really is satisfying not only to have fun in the kitchen 

but to be able to please your brood too.

Again, these recipes come from the cooking show

 "Take Home Chef" hosted by Curtis Stone.

It isn't on T.V. anymore but I download episodes instantly on Netflix.

If you would like to try these 2 main courses, here are the recipes:

Ravioli stuffed with Butternut Squash and Roasted Pine Nut, Brown Butter Sauce

(I went to Whole Foods Market and purchased the lasagne noodles and made them into the ravioli)

FOR THE RAVIOLI FILLING:

1 1/4 cups/300 g Pumpkin Puree (I substituted Butternut Squash instead)  I steamed it on the stovetop and mashed it.

2 teaspoons/10 ml olive oil

1 cup/120 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon/less than 2 g finely chopped fresh tarragon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 stick (1/2 cup/113 g) salted butter

25 sage leaves

1/4 cup/60 ml fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup/100 g pinenuts, toasted

1 1/2 ounces/45 g shaved Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION:

TO MAKE THE RAVIOLI FILLING:

1. In a heavy-based small saucepan, cook the pumpkin puree over a medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until some of the moisture has evaporated and the mixture thickens slightly, stirring constantly to ensure it doesn't stick to the pan. Let cool completely.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium to high heat. Add the diced pumpkin and sauté for about 10 minutes or until it is tender and golden brown. Allow to cool completely.
3. Stir the pumpkin puree, diced pumpkin, grated Parmesan cheese and tarragon in a bowl to combine. Season the pumpkin mixture to taste with salt and pepper.

TO PREPARE THE RAVIOLI:

1. Place 1 pasta square or round on the work surface. Place 1 tablespoon/20 g of the pumpkin mixture in the center of the pasta square or round. Brush water over the pasta dough that surrounds the filling. Top with another pasta square or round.
2. Press the edges together to seal. Repeat with the remaining pasta squares or rounds and pumpkin filling, forming 20 ravioli total. Trim the ravioli squares, if necessary. Transfer the ravioli to a floured baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook.
3. Alternatively, purchased fresh pasta sheets can be used in place of the fresh pasta sheets made here. If using purchased pasta sheets, select both the plain pasta sheets and spinach pasta sheets for a pretty presentation.

TO MAKE THE SAUCE AND SERVE THE RAVIOLI:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the pasta is tender and the filling is heated through.
2. Meanwhile, place a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the butter and cook for about 4 minutes or until the butter melts and becomes a light brown color.
3. Once this begins to happen, add the sage leaves and lemon juice and simmer for 2 minutes or until the sage is crisp. Remove from the heat. Stir in the nuts. Drain the raviolis from the water and place five ravioli on each plate.
4. Spoon the brown butter mixture over and around the raviolis. Garnish with the shaved Parmesan cheese and serve.

Carmelized Baby Bananas with Almond Brittle (and vanilla ice cream added)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups/400 g granulated sugar

2 cups/225g whole almonds (roasted)

6 baby bananas, cut in half lengthwise

1/2 cup/50 g golden brown sugar

PREPARATION:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the granulated sugar in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until the sugar dissolves and turns light golden brown.  Add the almonds and stir to coat in the melted sugar.
2. Pour the almond mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it in an even layer.  Allow the brittle to cool, then break it up into pieces.  Place the brown sugar on a plate.  
3. Using a small sharp knife, score the flesh side of the bananas.  Press the bananas flesh side down in the brown sugar to coat thickly.  Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat.  Place the bananas, sugared side down, in the pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until the sugar has caramelized.  Transfer the caramelized bananas to plates and serve with the almond brittle.

Pumpkin, Sage & Parmesan Gratin

garden sage

I don’t know about you but the ingredients in this recipe make me drool. It is just my kind of dish. I saw it in an article in BBC Good Food, entitled Pick of the Month by Gregg Wallace, co-presenter of BBC 2’s Master Chef Goes Large and I knew I was going to love it.  But even though pumpkin is available everywhere in Istanbul right now, sage isn’t! I have had to contain myself till we came to Assos where thanks to the now sadly defunct English Gardens, we have a flourishing sage bush in our garden. Sage, or adaçay, is generally used as an infusion here and drunk in the little tea glasses with a slice of lemon.

with rosemary and lavender

So here we are for the weeklong bayram holiday in our house in the ancient village of Assos. Daughter No 1 is here and friend Frances from Selçuk which is close to Efes/Ephesus. Frances arrived bearing a little pumpkin/balkabak – to my  initial horror, I saw it was whole, unlike the ones in Istanbul which are all cut up and ready to go. I really thought I would have to take a saw to it but to my surprise, a sharp kitchen knife was enough to cut it in half without undue sweat and then into chunks. Then imagine my pleasure in going out into the garden wielding a pair of scissors in order to cut some sage leaves. We used olive oil from Frances’ own olive grove which lies in the hills above Selçuk. As for the parmesan, I had the foresight to bring some with me from Istanbul as the bakkal or local village shop, doesn’t run to exotic things like that!

Ingredients for Pumpkin, Sage & Parmesan Gratin

Serves 4 as a ‘delicious substantial side dish or a great veggie main course’

1kg/2lb 4oz pumpkin (or winter squash), peeled, deseeded and chopped into large chunks

3 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Small bunch sage, roughly chopped

142 m pot double cream

50g/2oz parmesan, grated

slicing, peeling, deseeding, chopping

........to get this

Method

§  Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. In a large gratin dish, toss the pumpkin with the olive oil, garlic and sage, plus pepper and salt. Roast for 40 minutes till soft. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and increase the heat to 220C/fan 200C, gas 7.

§  Drizzle the cream over and scatter on the cheese. Return to the oven for 20 minutes until bubbling and golden. Serve on its own or with the Sunday roast.

set for the oven

                                                                              Tips

I didn’t use the cream as I thought it would be just too rich. But I don’t doubt that it’s probably a yummy addition!

ready to serve!

                 
             Only the front half has parmesan on it as two of our party wanted it plain!

Turkey Steak Fried in Sage Breadcrumbs with Real Chips

It truly never fails to amaze me why so many people in this world consider turkey merely to be for special occasion dinners such as those eaten at Thanksgiving or Christmas. While chicken is eaten through each of the four seasons in the West, we have this stigma almost about eating turkey as part of a simple everyday menu. Is this because we automatically associate turkey with buying the whole bird for one of the aforementioned special occasions? Are we not aware that we can buy individual cuts of turkey as we can with chicken? Whatever, this recipe is for a delicious turkey steak, fried in sage breadcrumbs, which can be eaten on any day of the year - including Thanksgiving or Christmas!

The Chips for this Recipe

As I have featured the process by which these real chips are made both on this blog and elsewhere around the Web before, it makes little sense to simply repeat myself. The full, detailed instructions for making these absolutely delicious chips can be found by clicking on the link immediately below. The remainder of this recipe will follow thereafter.

How to Make Delicious, Real Chips (Opens in a new window)

Ingredients per Person (Turkey and Veg Only)

1 turkey breast steak
2 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 beaten egg
6 cobs of baby corn
Small handful of mangetout
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

Method

By this stage, our chips will have undergone stages one and two, as detailed in the link advised above.

The beaten egg should be in a flattish bowl and the breadcrumbs on a plate next to it. The sage should be stirred in to the breadcrumbs and the egg seasoned well with salt and pepper. A little sunflower oil should be poured in to a non-stick frying pan and brought up to a medium heat.

It may prove a little messy if you are not used to doing it but the next stage is to dip the turkey in to the egg, then pat it in to the breadcrumbs on both sides. Very importantly, the process should then be repeated, so that essentially the turkey goes in to the egg, then the breadcrumbs, then the egg again and finally back in to the breadcrumbs. This will ensure that the breadcrumb coating is thick, adheres well and is beautifully crispy at the point of service.

The turkey steak should then be placed in to the moderately hot oil and fried for five minutes each side. When the steak is turned, the chips should be put in for their final fry and water should be boiled in order to essentially blanche the veg for at most two minutes.

The chips should be drained (as instructed) in kitchen paper, the veg in a colander and the meal served as shown in the photograph.