Best Party Salsa!

Whenever Nick and I have people over we don't have sit-down dinners due to size constrictions in our apartment.  Also, the fact that we have no dining room table might have something to do with it!  Therefore, all of our parties are more of a cocktail style where you can help yourself to a variety of food and drink options.  One staple we always have, no matter the party, is chips and salsa.  My friend L brought over a dressed-up salsa once and we were hooked.  So when it was Super Bowl time, this salsa was obviously something we wanted to serve.

Salsa!

I believe the recipe comes from Green Mountain Gringo.  The Necessities (with the proportions adapted for our tastes)....

• 1 cup of corn
• 1 avocado - chopped
• chopped cilantro
• 1 lime (juice and zest)
• 1 jar of salsa

 To begin, since we still had frozen corn from our CSA, we defrosted a cup in a large bowl.

Defrosted Corn

Once thawed, Nick then added the juice of one lime and, using a microplane added a handful of the lime zest.

Juice and Rind

 Followed by the chopped cilantro.  We like the flavor of cilantro, so we put a good 1/3-1/2 cup in...

Cilantro

Then we added a jar of salsa.  You can use your favorite, but since this was a Green Mountain Gringo recipe, we used their medium blend.  Nick stirred it up and let it sit in the fridge until people started coming over.  Really, the sitting in the fridge just allowed all the favors come together and allowed us to get something done beforehand.  I love dishes that you can prepare mostly in advance and finish just as people arrive - I hate scrambling at the last moment.

With the salsa

So right as the buzzer went off with people, Nick quickly chopped up the avocado and added it to the bowl of salsa, scooped it into our very fancy chip and dip bowl and it was ready to go!

Salsa

This is a great way to take a regular salsa to the next level without a whole lot of effort.  I highly recommend following these simple steps with your salsa at your next party.

Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta

Nick was in charge of making dinner last week, which is great for two reasons: 1) I can relax, watch TV and blog a bit, and 2) he is a good cook!  Nick wanted to capitalize on the available fall flavors, and after a bit of searching came across an Autumn Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage that sounded delicious.  So, while I was lounging, Nick got to work!

Dinner is Served!

The Necessities...

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage link (out of the casing)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 -6 sprigs fresh sage, chiffonade
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• 1 lb penne (with ridges) 
• grated Parmesan cheese

To begin, Nick removed the sausage from its casing and put it in a skillet over medium to hot heat.  Once it was fully cooked, he removed it from the heat and put it on a plate lined with paper towels, which allowed some of the fat to drain.

Cooking the sausage...

While the sausage was cooking, Nick chopped up the onion and sage.

All Chopped Up

Nick tossed the onions, garlic and some olive oil into the skillet with the small amount of sausage fat that remained and let it cook up until it was tender - about 3-5 minutes.

Tenderizing the Onions

Some Dry White

Once tender, Nick added the sage and white wine, and allowed the wine to reduce by half.

Getting the white wine saucy!

Once it halved, he added the pumpkin and the stock.

With some pumpkin

When the mixture started to bubble and boil, Nick added the sausage back in, reduced the heat, and added the cream.  Finally he seasoned it with nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper and allowed it to simmer for a few minutes so the flavors could all come together.

Thickening up

All that was left was to toss the pasta into the sauce and serve - oh, and of course top with some grated cheese!

Yum!

This was a delicious dinner that was warm and comforting!  The pumpkin in the dish was flavorful but not overpowering.  The nutmeg and cinnamon really shined through in each bite.  Even better, I did not have to lift a finger to make it, but I promise that I did clean it up.

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Shepard's Pie...ish

This recipe goes back aways - back to when we had fresh corn and onions on a weekly basis.  I mean, its only been two weeks and I am really missing our CSA goodie bag!  Having received so much corn and potatoes for a number of weeks in a row, we really were looking for meals that utilized these ingredients.  Nick decided to take the lead in the kitchen on this night and wing a recipe.  While not really a traditional shephard's pie in any way, the same flavor profile was there.

The Necessities...

• bunches of red onion
• the kernals from 1 or 2 ears of corn
• potatoes
• Johnsonville chicken sausages

To begin, Nick cut up loads of onions and put them in a saute pan with some olive oil and kept them heating low and slow for quite some time to get them fully caramelized.

Caramelizing onions....

Using the special corn trick, Nick cut the kernels off of the ears of corn.

Kernels of corn...

Meanwhile, I helped peel some potatoes, Nick cut them up and plopped them in a pot full of water and let them cook until soft.

Boiling Potatoes

The onions continued to cook down until they were nice and mushy.

Caramelized Onions

Once the onions were done, Nick put them in a bowl and set them aside for later and added the corn to the pan to heat up.

Cooking corn

Once the potatoes were done, Nick mashed them up, added some salt, butter and leftover sour cream that we had in our refridgerator and served them in the base of the bowls.

Mashed Potatoes!

Nick then spooned the corn and the caramelized onions to the top of the potatoes.

Almost ready....

In the meantime, Nick had grilled the Johnsonville Chicken Sausages easily on the Foreman Grill and placed them on top of all the yumminess in the bowls.  Nick and I are big fans of this chicken sausage - flavorful and easy to cook.  They have a variety of styles like three cheese Italian and apple chicken.

Dinner is Served!

This dinner was easy (not necessarily quick!) and flavorful, and is definitely something more suited for the cold days ahead - in fact, I think we'll have to make something similar again with all the corn that is sitting in our freezer.  With Thanksgiving ahead, there are plenty of variations to this meal that can use up plenty of leftovers!

Spaghetti Squash Dinner

In the final weeks of our CSA we were getting tons of squashes, one of which was spaghetti squash, the flesh of which basically turns into spaghetti when you start scraping it out.  With this, I let Nick be the guinea pig and figure out how to make this squash into a meal.  Using the ever popular Gojee, Nick found a recipe for "Mexi Squash" from the Sprouted Kitchen.

To being, Nick cut the squash in half, pulled out the seeds, placed the halves face down on a baking sheet and put it in a 375 degree oven for about 50 minutes.  Once tender, he allowed the squash to cool a bit.

Cooling Roasted Squash

While the squash was resting, Nick combined the juice of two limes, olive oil, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, and some coriander in a small bowl.

Dressing!

Using a fork, Nick scraped out all the spaghetti goodnesss from the cooled squash into a large bowl.

Scraping out the spaghetti

Nick then added the sauce and a handful of feta crumbles to the bowl with the squash and combined.  You could also use a mexican cheese here, but since they didn't have any at the store that night, the recipe said feta would work just as well.

Dressed Squash

To beef up this dinner, Nick seasoned some chicken with the zest from the 2 limes, salt and pepper and put it on the Foreman Grill to cook through...

Some Seasoned Raw Chicken

...and then topped the mexi squash with the grilled chicken.

Dinner is ready!

Spaghetti squash is a really fun vegetable (well, technically, a really fun fruit,!) that offers the same concepts of a pasta but is way healthier.  With a crunchier texture, I liked the change up, but I will say, sometimes there really is no substitute for straight up pasta!

A Rustic Potato and Onion Tartlet

Like I said, we have been getting tons of potatoes in our CSA, and rather than just making mashed potatoes over and over again (even though they are so good!) we have been trying to be creative.  When Nick said he found a recipe for a Rustic Potato and Caramelized Onion Tart I was completely sold and could not wait for dinner!

Dinner is served!

This recipe had a lot of moving parts going on...
The Necessities for the tart filling (adapted from Foodess)

• 1 recipe of pastry dough
• 1 egg yolk 
• about 4 - 5 small red onions
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 pound of potatoes
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of shredded Cheddar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground pepper

The Necessities for the pastry dough

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup lard
• 1/4 cup butter (cubed)
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 4 tablespoons ice water

For the pastry, Nick first added the lard, butter and flour to a bowl - cut up perfectly.

Some butter and lard

Using a pastry blender (one of my favorite toys!) Nick blended all the ingredients together until it was nothing but crumbs.

Crumbs...

Nick then sprinkled the vinegar and the ice water over the crumbs a bit at a time until the mixture holds together.  At this point, he poured the dough out onto a large of piece of parchment paper.






On the parchment paper, he formed a disk out of the dough and then tightly wrapped the dough ball in the parchment and stored in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Dough ball

While the dough ball was literally chilling, he went ahead and thinly sliced the red onions.

Chopped onions

Nick added the onions to a sauce pan heated with oil and butter.

Cooking onions...

He continued to allow them to cook over low heat until they were fully caramelized.  Towards the end he added the sugar and allowed them to cook a bit longer and then spread them out over a plate to cool.

Completely Caramelized

In the same pot he added the sliced potatoes and topped with cold water (covering the potatoes by an inch).  The potatoes came to a boil, cooked for 5 minutes, and were then run under some cold water to cool down.

Cooking Potatoes

In the meantime, he mixed together the sour cream, eggs, cheese, sage, salt and pepper.






Once completely combined, he stirred in the cooled onions.






The pastry came out of the fridge and between two sheets of parchment was rolled into a large circle about a quarter of an inch thick.  There was no need to keep it straight since we were going for a rustic look to this tart - no even circles needed!

Tart Dough

The bottom piece of parchment with the dough on the top went onto a baking sheet.  Nick then layered on the sliced potatoes, leaving about a 2-3 inch border of dough.





Next, Nick piled on the onion mixture and maintained that 2-3 inch border of dough.





He then folded those dough borders up around the insides, pinching the folded pieces tightly and sealing the edges.  The edges of the tart were brushed with a whisked egg yolk.





He then popped it all into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes, and then reduced the heat to 375 degrees and allowed the tart to cook for another 35 minutes, until golden brown.

Tart is ready!

Nick plated each piece with some greens we got from our CSA that week.

Dinner is served!

Needless to say this was an indulgent weekday meal that Nick prepared.  I enjoyed every bite of this tart.  It was so rich and was a perfect contrast to the crisp greens.  Making it rustic took the perfection out of the dough, which takes some of the pressure off, but also provides a great look to the tart itself.  This really is a great dish for so many occasions and perfect for the fall weather!

Tomatillos!

The same week we got our crazy ground cherries, we also got something a bit more traditional: tomatillos.  We took the obvious approach and decided on making a tomatillo sauce (salsa verde) as part of a little taco bar for dinner.  Lucky for me, Nick decided to take this on!  Turning to Google for some inspiration and a way to deal with the crazy husk and other surprises, Nick found a good starting recipe, whipping up some salsa verde.

Tomatillos

To begin, Nick peeled off the husk of the fruit.  They leave a sticky residue, which definitely does not add any flavor and feels kind of gross.

Peeled Tomatillos

Nick gave them a rinse, put them in a pot with some water and brought them to a boil, letting them then simmer for 5 minutes.

Boiling away...

While the fruit was boiling away, Nick cut up some cilantro, garlic, jalapeno and onions.

(So good about pictures!)

From here, he just added all the ingredients to the blender, along with some freshly squeezed lime juice, hit the start button and let it go.

Getting blended

Once it was all combined, he poured it out into a bowl ready for the serving to an awaiting crowd - ME!

Tomatillo Sauce

The sauce was accompanied by some roasted chipolte chicken and some grated oaxaca cheese for a real authentic feel!  While all the ingredients are simple, these all had loads of flavor and combined really well in a corn tortilla.

Dinner is Served!

The tomatillo sauce really was delicious and had so much flavor!  The spread was perfect for a great weekday meal.  Once again, Nick totally spoiled me with a great dinner :)