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.

Onion Rings inspired by David Lebovitz

Do you read David Lebovitz's blog? I do and normally it makes me want to eat my way across Europe. A few weeks ago however he posted about onion rings he made that were inspired by a Hooters cookbook. Now I have never been to Hooters and really have no desire to do so but he got me craving onion rings. So tonight I finally made Onion rings
The Batter
Mix together
1 cup flour
1 cup Dogfish 60 min IPA ( add 2 more oz if you like thinner coating)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon powdered chilli pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Let this all sit covered while you drink the remaining 4 oz of the Dogfish head 60 min IPA and watch one back episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown. Open a second bottle of Dogfish 60 min to drink and wonder why in the world Alton Brown is no longer making Good Eats as it was the best cooking geek show. Now that this is done
Get the largest onion out of your onion drawer and slice it up. Look at the number of onion rings that will make and decide to only slice one onion as really who should eat that many onion rings.

Start heating up about 2 inches of peanut oil in your cast iron le creuset dutch oven.

The flour dredge
David Lebovitz says to just toss the onion ring slices in flour but I like my flavor layers so I did
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 pinch salt
All mixed together
and I dredged the onion slices through this and then into the batter and then into the oil. After the first two I decided that I like my onion rings with a thinner coating and added 2 oz more of beer from the bottle I was drinking. (This is the benefit for living alone and cooking for yourself you can pour directly from a half drunk bottle of beer into a recipe)
Cook the onion rings until pretty golden in the hot oil and then put on top of a draining rack or paper towels for the grease to drip away. Salt
Continue frying in batches of 3 or 4 until you have a heaping serving.
Eat while drinking the last of that second bottle of beer.

Grilled Sesame Brussel Sprouts

This is almost too easy a recipe but I have now been asked for this recipe by two different friends both of whom rarely like vegetables and so that they are asking for brussel sprouts is amazing. One is a DC horse cop who swears that really anything beyond meat and starch has no place.I swear I do not get his aversion to green stuff and sweet stuff. The other one is a sailing buddy who came over for Easter and tried to convince my nephew that these were even tastier then jelly beans. To quote my three year old nephew "I like them I love jelly beans" Ok so well to a three year old they are tasty but not as tasty as jelly beans but hey what preparation of brussel sprouts would be as tasty as jelly beans to a three year old. He did pretty much eat brussel sprouts, jelly beans, and peeps and little else at Easter.
On to the recipe
You need
Brussel sprouts ( fresh not frozen )
Spicy Sesame Oil
Sesame Seeds

1. Cut the dry bottoms off the brussel sprouts and half them perpendicular to the bottom you want about 3 cups of halved brussel sprouts
2. Put them into a room temp cast iron skillet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons spicy sesame oil. ( I buy mine at the local asian market.)
3. Toss around in the skillet so that the brussel sprouts get totally coated
4. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sesame seeds toss again and arrange sprouts so most are flat side down

5. Put on hot grill and grill tossing once or twice until browned about 10-15 minutes depending on heat of grill and size of sprouts.I have also done these in the oven at 400 during the winter but I like them grilled better.

6. Toss in a bowl. Makes a great side dish ( this is Sailing Savor Single I'm single I will admit I have had this as a meal before so go ahead and have it as a dish for one too)

Quick Spicy Brussel Sprouts

I like Brussel Sprouts. Not the mushy ones mom used to make as kids where they were basically boiled to death and then smothered in butter sauce. But the sauteed type with a little spice. They are also very fast to make.
All you need is
1/2 lb Brussel Sprouts
1 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sesame seeds ( optional but tasty)
Sriracha to taste

This is an easy ingredient list.

Now how to:
1.Heat up your cast iron skillet on medium high. You do have a cast iron skillet right they are indispensable in the kitchen, if not get one.
2.While the skillet is heating up cut the brussel sprouts in half top to bottom so they look like the ones in the picture. This  is the hardest part of the recipe.
3. Put the sesame oil in the skillet and spread around. Then put the brussel sprouts in cut side down. ( this is important if they are cut side up they will not trap the steam and cook as fast nor will they be as yummy caramelized)

cut side down matters! Also do not crowd the pan no more then 1 deep

sriracha water mix

4. Let brown for a minute or two. While this is happening go get a shot glass or other small container. You want 1 squirt about 1 teaspoon but more if you like hot and less if you do not like heat of Sriracha and mix that with 1 oz water.
5. Pour the water Sriracha mix over the brussel sprouts and dust with sesame seeds. Then put a lid over the pan. Cook for an additional 2 minutes with lid on.

6. Remove lid, serve brussle sprouts. Makes 2 -1 cup ish servings.

mmm brussel sprouts.