Cheddar Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Sage Pasta

So two nights ago I had roasted a butternut squash and eaten a bunch with my dinner. I was left with about 2 cups of roasted butternut squash leftovers and was inspired to make this fantastic pasta to use up the left overs create a yummy dinner for myself and  some to freeze back for quick healthy meals for the next month or so of hectic holiday stuff.
This is also the time of year that I am cutting back my sage so that it does well over the winter. So I went outside to gather the sage and use it to make the pasta even more special.

Ingredients
Regular Pasta 
4 eggs
200g semolina flour
200g all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sage pasta 
1/5th the regular pasta dough
2 cups sage leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
50g semolina flour

Cheddar Butternut Squash Filling 
2 cups leftover roasted butternut squash ( if starting from uncooked squash about 1/2 a large butternut squash roast till soft in 400 degree oven and then mash )
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make regular pasta
1. Weigh out semolina and all purpose flour for regular pasta.Then mix together in a bowl.
2. In food processor with dough blades put the four eggs and pulse just 2 or 3 pulses just enough to mix the yolks and eggs.
3. In three or four batches add in flour and then mix to combine.
4. Add in salt. Process until dough has incorporated all the flour and is a ball rolling on side.
5. Put in ziploc bag and allow to rest.

How to make sage pasta
1. Boil the sage leaves for 5 minutes  to soften.
2. Drain and add to food processor with chopping blade.
3. Add olive oil and process until very fine chopped will almost look like pesto about 1 min
4. Add in 1/5th the regular pasta and process  30 seconds pulsing to mix
5. Add in extra flour and process again until fully incorporated and dough is ball rolling along sides of processor
6. Put in ziploc bag to rest

How to make Cheddar Butternut Squash filling
1. In food processor mix together all ingredients
2. Pulse repeatedly to combine

Putting it all together.
1. Using your pasta rolling attachment roll out your pasta on the #1 setting and then fold in thirds and reroll five or six times until the pastry is smooth.
2. Repeat with the sage pasta

3. Cut strips of sage pasta and place on regular pasta in a nice pattern push down lightly

4. Run through the #1 setting again twice
5. Run through the #2 setting twice
6. Run through the #3 setting twice and the #4 setting twice.
7. Put on ravioli mold pretty side down add a teaspoon of filling and then brush water in between the raviolis and place the top layer of pastry on (pretty side up)
8. Remove from ravioli from mold and cut using pastry cutter.

9. Boil 7 minutes or freeze in single layer and then ziploc and keep in freezer for up to 3 months.
10. Enjoy!!

Creamy Butternut Squash and Carmelized Onion Soup

Last weekend I made this soup for some friends as an appetizer and it overshadowed the rest of my dinner party. Everyone was asking for seconds and thirds so much so that I did not have any left to take pictures. Instead, I had to make some more today(Such an easy soup that this is not a hard task)
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
3 large or 5 medium onions
4 cups stock( chicken or vegetable )
salt
1 cup greek yogurt
Pam
Parmesan rind

1. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and them pam the aluminum foil
2. Cut the top and bottom off a butternut squash and then cut in half and remove the seeds with a spoon.

3. Cut onions into 1/8th pieces.
4. Put the squash cut side down on cookie sheet and onions in middle.

5. Bake in over at 350 degree for about 90 minutes until the squash is soft occasionally mixing around the onions with tongs ( about every 30 min)

6. Once squash is soft all over remove the sheet from the oven and allow to cool.
7. Once cool add onions to soup pot and then remove flesh of squash from skin and add squash to soup pot.
8. Add 4-5 cups of stock and add in 1 inch piece of Parmesan rind
9. Blend with immersion blender until smooth and add salt to taste
10. Heat back up over medium
11. Once hot blend again with immersion blender while adding 1 cup of plain greek yogurt.
12. Serve to friends, have friends ask for recipe

Goat Cheese Lemon Poppyseed Salad Dressing

Some friends of mine always are amazed that I never buy salad dressing. It is so easy and tasty to make it yourself and customize for different salad options. Plus living by myself I never want the same salad dressing for a week so why bother with a whole bottle. It is very easy however to whip up a great salad dressing in two minutes or less. So go for it.
Basic Formula for Salad Dressing
Acid+ Oil + flavor elements+ immersion blender=Emulsion

Goat Cheese Lemon Poppyseed Dressing
Ingredients
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small piece goat cheese (size of a dice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon poppyseeds

1.In a heavy container just a tiny bit wider then your immersion blender, I use a rocks glass, put the juice of one lemon.
2. Add the small bit of goat cheese ( this adds a lot of creamy texture) and the salt to the lemon juice.

3. Blend briefly with immersion blender.

4. While blending with immersion blender slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Allow most to mix in before adding in more. It will thicken up and seem more yellow.

5.Add in the poppyseeds and blend really briefly just to mix.

6. Drizzle over the Spinach, Chicken, Strawberry, and Goat Cheese Salad that you made up from the random stuff in your fridge.

7. Congratulate yourself on not having eaten junk food for dinner.

Black and White Tuna with Spicy Mango Sauce

Want a very impressive dinner for having friends over? Want it easy but fancy looking? Yet something the girlfriend who is constantly on a health kick of one of your best friends will still eat and love? Have I got the tuna recipe for you.

Ingredients for the Tuna (Serves however many tuna steaks you have)
White sesame seeds
Black sesame seeds
Tuna
Sesame seed oil
How to:
1. Ok yes you could use all the same color sesame seeds but not nearly as pretty. In a shallow small plate place the white seeds on one side and the black seeds on the other. Like so:

This is easiest to accomplish by putting one side down then using a knife to push to even it out and then keeping the butter knife in place put down the other seeds.
2. Preheat your Cast iron skillet and add a little sesame oil into it on medium high.
3. Using tongs carefully place your tuna steak down on the bed of sesame seeds and push strait down.
4. Using tongs only touching side of tuna pull out and reverse so other side is down and then push.
5. Still using your tongs put the tuna into the cast iron skillet .
6.Repeat steps 3-5 for remaining tuna pieces.
7. Turn tuna over carefully to other side using tongs.
8. Tuna is done when each side is seared and barely cooked through on the sides (you want it pink in the middle)

For the Spicy Mango Sauce (Serves 4)
Ingredients
1 champagne mango or small mango
1 tablespoon spicy sesame oil ( if do not like strong heat mix spicy and regular sesame oil depending on heat level)
3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (I like chobani)

Instructions for Spicy Mango Sauce
1. Cube the mango. This is done by slicing down the flatter side of the mango and then hatching the mango with a knife and inverting it and cutting out the cubes

Champagne Mango

Mango hatched with knife and inverted ( see the nice cubes)

2. Put the mango cubes, yogurt, and sesame oil all together into a blender or into I container to use your immersion blender.
3. Blend together until smooth
4. Serve about 2 tablespoons per tuna steak.

Spicy Mango Sauce with black and white tuna

A top view of tuna with mango sauce

I added some rice in a ring around this tuna and mango sauce.

Pi day chicken pot pie

Today is march 14 otherwise known as pi day.  Let me give you 3.14159 or so reasons to make chicken pot pie for dinner.
1. It is one of the tastiest dinner pies
2. As easy to make a few and freeze either as whole pies or mini pie as to make one.
3.14 it is pi day

Ok so I have you convinced.  Let me now tell you how. This recipe makes three pies or twelve mini ramikin sized pies. You could scale down but as they freeze so well and it saves time later and really takes no longer go ahead and stock up. I am bringing two pies to a dinner and game night tonight the others I put into ramekins for single serve later.
You need
4-5 lbs chicken thighs
1lb carrots
3 onions
1 cup frozen peas
1cup milk
2cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons flour
1 potato
1 tablespoon bells seasonings or other poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon salt
6 crusts worth of pie crust dough
Pam

In a big heavy pot ideally a dutch oven type at least 4 or 5 quarts (I use one that is a no make brand that is a bit like this) salt and pepper and cook your chicken thighs a few at a time  on medium depending on the size you will be able to do 2-4 at a time. Do not crowd them as you want the browning. Make sure to keep the brown bits (fond) at the bottom of the pan. Remove them to another dish as they are done cooking. to cool off. When all the chicken thighs done cooking  pour off the fat that has accumulated and without washing the pan add in the 3 onions that have been diced. Stir it around and let the onions saute and go translucent. While this is happening take the carrots and peel and chop them up. Add these to the pot and stir around. Add the three tablespoons of flour and cook another two or three minutes this gets rid of the raw flour taste later. Add in the salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and then add in the two cups of chicken broth and the cup of milk. Bring to a simmer. While bringing to the simmer grate a potato into the mix using a course grater. Then while simmering remove the meat and skin from the chicken thigh bones and dice it all up. Once the mix is simmering you can add the meat back in. Now add the peas to the mix and check consistency. It should be about as thick as good gravy if not let it simmer a bit longer. 

Put one pie crust in the bottom of the pie pan and then spray with pam on the crust( this keep the crust from absorbing quite so much liquid and makes it tastier. ) Then use a ladle to ladle in several cups worth of pot pie. Do not over fill or liquid will leak everywhere when baking. Add top crust. You need to pinch edges to prevent leakage at edges and then cut lots of vent holes in order to vent the steam. I suggest cutting as many digits of pi as you know off the top of your head into the pie. Then either freeze. Or bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes till top crust is golden brown and inside is bubbly. For mini pie ramekins fill ramekins 3/4 full of pot pie mix and add layer of crust on top with lots of vents. Put ramekin and all inside a ziploc bag and freeze or bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes until golden. If frozen when go to bake pie just add about 5 minutes to bake time. 

Sorry this is a picture of the unbaked pi as I am baking right before tonight's dinner party as pot pie tastes best hot from oven.

Pretzel Mustard Chicken

This is my favorite uber easy four ingredient chicken recipe. Plus most likely it is all stuff you have in the house at any given moment. Well at least if your pantry looks like mine.

You need 
Chicken Breast
Egg
Brown Mustard
Pretzels ( rods are better but any sort of pretzels will do )

Simple short list of stuff needed

Preheat oven to 350. Take a fork and lightly scramble the egg in a bowl. Then mix in three tablespoons of mustard.

Egg mustard dip

Crush the pretzels. Easiest way for me is to put them in a still slightly open ziploc bag( closed can explode with air pressure) and pound down on it with a coffee mug. Put crushed pretzels in bowl.

Take each chicken breast and dunk until completely covered in egg mustard dip and then into crushed pretzels. Put on cast iron skillet or other ovenproof cooking dish. 

Ready to bake

Place in oven for 30-40 minutes. Time will vary based on size of chicken breasts and your oven so check for done before taking out.

Done! Delicious

Mmm now fully cooked time to eat. A side of salad or some other vegetable is all you need.