Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

This week is all about getting ready for Thanksgiving here in the US. Every store is filled with turkey, stuffing, cranberries and gravy. 

I took a look back on my recipes, to see which ones would be perfect as Thanksgiving dinner sides. And here is my top 3.

Brussels Sprouts Purée  

Sweet creamy purée with a crunchy brussels sprouts salad on the top.

A new way to serve brussels sprouts. This one can make any kid and adult love brussel sprouts.

Sweet, smokey scalloped hasselback sweet potatoes.

highly addictive and a must-have at your Thanksgiving dinner.

Roasted Winter Squash, A healthy colorful side. The sweetness of the squash is well balanced with the onions and chili. 

Roasted Winter Squash

Roasted Winter Squash

For years I heard about the hokkaido pumkin/squash from my Danish friends, but I have not been able to locale it here in California. Well, now I learned that is the same as the red kuri squash, and I found this in my local Whole Foods Market. 

I'm still on the quest to get my husband to love squash, so I had to find a way to make it, in a different way than I made other squash dishes. I actually thought that hokkaido/red kuri would be sweeter than it was, and sweet and mushy squashes will never persuade my husband, that winter squash is his thing. I really like winter squash, and I love having them as another option instead of potatoes. I like that squash is high in vitamin A, and has a good amount  (1.8g/100g) of dietary fiber. (Potatoes have 2.4g/100g.)

So I needed to season it with some bold flavors. I stumbled upon a recipe from the Danish blog "loisogbearnaisen," baking the squash with red onions and carrots. It looked so so good, and adapted my version from this.

Serves 2 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 small or ½ medium red kuri squash/hokkaido pumpkin

• 1 red onion

• 2 carrots

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1-1½ teaspoons salt

• 1-2 sprigs rosemary

• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200℃). Halve the squash lengthwise, and scrape the seeds out. 
Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler and cut  into bite size cubes. Peel onion and carrots and cut them in bite sized chunks.

Place all the vegetables in an ovenproof baking dish. Toss with oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. Sprinkle rosemary and pumpkin seeds.  Roast until just tender with some bite to them, about 30 minutes.

Serve with any kind of meat, or eat it alone for a nice healthy lunch.

Enjoy!

Scalloped Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Scalloped Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and maybe its time to change up some of the sides. I really loved the scalloped hasselback potatoes I've posted previously, and thought that I might work with sweet potatoes too. The smoked gouda and the sweet potatoes and with the caramelized crunch works perfect.

I have a feeling that these sweet potatoes could very addictive. I might have to put a waring label on this post. 

Serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes

• 6 fl oz (5 dl) heavy whipping cream

• smoked gouda

• 2 sprigs thyme leaves, leaves only

• salt

• 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Grate the cheese, and mix it with cream, thyme and some salt.

Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly on a mandolin. Toss the potato slices in the cream/cheese mixture, making sure to cover each slice. 

Purple and orange sweet potatoes

Stack the potato slices and lay them in ovenproof dish with their edges aligned vertically. Continue to fill the dish with the potatoes until the dish is filled. Pour excess cream/cheese mixture evenly over potatoes.

Cover dish with tin foil, and bake the potatoes for about 35 minutes until  the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife

Take off the foil and sprinkle the brown sugar on top, and continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes until the sugar has caramelized.

When the potatoes is done, take the dish out of the oven and let the potatoes rest for a few minutes, before serving.

Enjoy!

Red Onions in Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Red Onions in Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

These red onions cooked in balsamic can be used as a condiment with all kinds of meat, roasted vegetables or in sandwiches. But will also be perfect for at cheese platter.

Ingredients:

• 3 red onions, peeled
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 4 tablespoons red balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons flavored balsamic vinegar, I used Dark Espresso balsamic
• 1 sprinkle of salt

Directions:

Cut the peeled onions in 8, and add them to a heavy pan with the rest of the ingredients. Bring it all to a simmer, and let it cook for about 30-40 minutes, until the onions are soft and the balsamic has the consistency of a thick syrup.

Lasagna stuffed squash

Lasagna stuffed squash

This is another take on my vegetable spaghetti with meat sauce, this time using my favorite winter squash as serving bowls, and as the "spaghetti". I really liked the color of the gold nugget squash at the store, but thought that the spaghetti squash would be more appealing for my I'm-not-into-squash-husband. Oddly enough he liked the god nugget squash better, so I might have to end bashing him here, for not liking squash, I might. 

You can change up this dish, by using another meat, adding bacon or vegetables, or go all in and just make a veggie bolognese. You can even use these roasted squash to dress up a leftover curry, the possibilities are endless. 

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

Squash:

Spaghetti squash

• 1 small spaghetti squash
• 1 small gold nugget squash
• 1 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper

Meat Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound (450 g) ground beef (lean)
• 1 can tomato paste
• ½ teaspoon beef base (bouillon)
• 1 cup (2 dl) water 
• ½ cup (1 dl) red wine
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

• some mozzarella cheese
• chopped fresh basil

Direction:

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Slice squashes length wise and scrape out the seeds. Rub each squash half with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place each squash half cut-side down on a parchment paper lines baking sheet, and bake for 40-60 min until the squash is tender.

Meat sauce: 

Heat a drizzle of oil in a pot over medium heat and brown the onions. Add the garlic after a few minutes.  Add the ground beef and brown it, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon. Add the tomato paste and cook it until tomato paste turns a deeper red, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rosemary, thyme, a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the wine, beef base and water. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer it simmers, the better it gets. 

Let the Squash cool slightly, so you can handle them. Flip them cut-side up.

Scoop the meat sauce into each squash half, and top with mozzarella cheese. (You can add a cheese sauce or ricotta cheese to the squash, if you like)

Turn oven to broil, and cook the squash for another 2 minutes, until cheese is browned and bubbling. You have to keep an eye on this process, because this happens very quickly.

Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve immediately.

Enjoy!