Sorry, but the titles of my posts are going to become increasingly longer, depending on what I'm cooking, since Blogger will no longer accept my labels, having limited me to an arbitrary 2000 label-limit. Even when I delete older labels, I am still unable to add new labels. Blogger can add,
but Blogger cannot subtract. So essentially what I'm doing is putting my labels in my titles,
so if someone is searching for something particular, they may just find it by the titles.
At least that's my plan.
And I always try to have a plan.
Let's start out with acorn squash,
or as I like to call it, Cucurbita pepo.
I sliced the squash in half and sliced a small piece off the ends
so that the halves would sit level.
Set the seeded halves in a baking dish,
fill halfway up with water,
and get out your stuffings.
I'm using an apple, an orange, brown sugar,
dried cranberries, honey, pecans, and butter.
I chopped the apple, placed the pieces in the squash,
and squeezed the orange juice in.
About a tablespoon of brown sugar in each squash.
About a tablespoon of dried cranberries.
Raisins would work if you didn't have cranberries.
About a tablespoon of pecans.
About a tablespoon of honey.
Smear some butter over top
and it's ready for a preheated 450 degree oven
for about 40 minutes.
On to the chicken roll ups.
Another score at Food Lion.
Three split chicken breasts for $2.43.
I skinned and boned the breasts,
separating the fillet.
I pounded each breast in a plastic bag.
Got out the pesto Mr. Hawthorne had made
and some prosciutto.
And don't worry.
This wasn't the above pesto left over
from September 29.
It was pesto from the other day.
I laid out a sheet of prosciutto.
Placed a thinly pounded breast on top.
Salted and peppered.
And spread with pesto.
Spiral-wrapped up the breast and secured with toothpicks.
Chicken roll ups are ready for breading.
My breading mixture:
rice flour
semolina flour
panko
salt and pepper
Equal parts panko, rice flour, and semolina flour.
Roll each chicken breast in the flour mixture,
shaking off the excess.
Heat up a mixture of olive oil and butter.
Brown on all sides
and finish off in a 350 degree oven
for about 5 minutes.
On to the asparagus in puff pastry.
The other day, I cleaned my freezer out,
organizing everything and inventorying it all.
I found a box of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and decided
to use that with the asparagus from my garden.
I rolled the pastry out and cut it into 6 pieces,
slightly crosshatched them, and ...
... brushed with an egg glaze
(1 egg mixed with a teaspoon of water).
The tray of puff pastry immediately went into the 450 degree
for 12-15 minutes, until the pastries were brown and puffy.
Meanwhile I prepared the asparagus.
Slice into pieces.
Bring salted water to a boil
and add in the larger asparagus pieces first.
I added in the tips last
and boiled until just tender.
Drain the asparagus.
I'm not too impressed with the puff pastry,
(It didn't puff all that much.)
but it'll do in a pinch, if you don't have
all day to make your own.
Paltry puffing.
I sliced the pastries as best I could,
and placed the asparagus inside,
with a little butter and lemon juice.
And why not a little more butter?
With careful planning,
everything was ready at the same time.
This squash is like a dessert.
It's that good.
Chicken roll ups, stuffed acorn squash,
and asparagus in puff pastry.
Cantcha jes see all the flavors?
If not, have a 'tini or two or five
and come back.
(That probably explains how Aunt Sandy sees flavors.)
I liked the crunch of the pastry.
That's the best I can say about it.
I'm pretending there are layers and layers
of butter in there,
but sadly the only butter is the little pat I put on it.
I've made puff pastry before
so I know what it's like and this is faux pastry.
Here's the ingredient list:
margarine [palm oil, water, salt, distilled monoglycerides, soy lecithin, natural flavor, beta carotene (color), vitamin A palmitate], unbleached enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid], water, contains 2% or less of: high fructose corn syrup, salt, wheat gluten, distilled monoglycerides (from hydrogenated soybean oil) and soy lecithin.
I'm salivating now, as I'm sure you are.
Kathy, it has unbleached enriched wheat flour!
That's good, right?
Here are my little chicken roll ups.
I liked the saltiness of the prosciutto
and the pesto was a nice green surprise on the inside.
Bon appetit!
Enriched, unbleached wheat flour is from the Devil. So is Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. Nary a molecule of butter in the stuff. Next time I come, I'm gonna bring some from Trader Joe's (if they have it that day).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I want to have a throwdown with prosciutto vs Smithfield country ham. Smithfield ham doesn't get the credit it deserves. And it deserved buckets of credit long before they plastered Paula Deen's face all over it.
Well, the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sucked. But I only have my homemade to compare it to which had, I think, a pound of Land o' Lakes unsalted butter in it.
ReplyDeleteWould love to try Trader Joe's.
And I'll take Smithfield ham any day over prosciutto, in spite of Pauler.
>small voice< I thought whole wheat was good?
Au contraire, amigo. Enriched wheat flour is a euphemism for white flour. Wonder bread is made from enriched wheat flour. Most all flour is made from wheat. Unless it specifies WHOLE wheat flour, it's white flour meant to fool you.
ReplyDeleteHey, I need to talk to you about Halloween weekend.
Those chicken roll-ups look mighty tasty!!
ReplyDelete