Butternut Squash and Eggplant Night

When I first moved back to Birmingham I lived on the second floor of an apartment building near by. A sweet older woman lived alone beneath me I was lucky enough to have her take me under her wing. I would frequently come home from work to find a slice of her rum cake or a container of her homemade chicken salad on my doorstep with a note from her. I was still new to cooking and just starting to get into it, so I was always very excited to find anything from her kitchen outside my door. When I moved out the apartment I was sad to leave a wonderful neighbor. I also thought my days of food being dropped off at my door were over, however, I was wrong. It is not uncommon for me to come home now to a baked good or sack of fresh vegetables at our front door. Jess and I love to cook together and we also love to share our food with others especially each other. She will drop off a loaf of homemade banana bread at our house and I’ll drop some apple muffins off at hers. A big part of what I love about baking and cooking is sharing it with others and Jess is the same way. So, recently Jess and Scott dropped off the bounty of vegetables and I decided that this time instead of leaving food at her door that we should have them over for dinner.

I knew exactly what I wanted to have for dinner tonight. I love eggplant and Russ doesn’t particularly care for it. However, if it is mixed in with other things he likes he always ends up eating it… Knowing this and that Jess and Scott like eggplant I decided to try Ina Garten’s Roasted Eggplant Spread for an appetizer.

To make the spread you peel the eggplant and cut it into 1 inch pieces. You also cut the red onion and red bell peppers into 1 inch pieces. You then toss them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced garlic. These go in the oven to roast at 400F for about 45 minutes. Once they are done you let them cool slightly and the put them in the food processor with a little bit of tomato paste and pulse it about 3 or 4 times. Then you are done. Yes, it was that easy.

The spread had a wonderful roasted flavor and you could really taste both the eggplant and the red peppers. I served it with multi grain pita chips. It was delicious and Russ did eat it! Russ rates the dip a 8.

For dinner I knew I wanted to make the Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette I had seen over on Smitten Kitchen recently. As you probably know by now if you read my blog I love all things butternut squash and all things onions. So, this recipe was a must make for me and I knew that Jess and Scott would love it too!

I skimmed the recipe before getting started and realized I should have started it about an hour before, so be sure and read the recipe carefully on this one. You start by putting the flour and salt in one bowl and then cut the butter into cubes in another bowl. Both bowls then go in the freezer for 1 hour. This was the part I managed to not read before I started… Once it has been in the fridge for an hour you form a well in the flour and cut the butter into it. In a separate bowl you combine the sour cream, lemon juice, and ice water. This then is incorporated in batches into the flour / butter mixture. This becomes a sticky, yummy dough that you form into a ball. I was a little worried as my ball was a little more crumbly than I thought it might need to be. The ball is wrapped in plastic wrap and goes in the fridge to rest for 1 hour. While it is resting you roast the squash and carmalize the onions. Once the dough has rested you roll it out into a circle and place it on a baking sheet. You then combine the squash, onions, cheese, sage, and cayenne in a bowl. Take the squash mixture and place it in the middle of the circle of rolled out dough and then pull the sides up around it. This goes in the oven at 400 to bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.

The galette was well worth the wait! It was delicious! It was the perfect combination of butternut squash, onions, and pastry. The cheese and sage added the perfect accompanying flavors to the dish. This is certainly on the time consuming side, but it is well worth the effort and time. If you are taking a dish to Thanksgiving this year and looking for something a little different I would highly recommend this galette. Russ rates the galette a 9 and if it had meat I bet he would give it a 10.

Russ grilled steaks and asparagus to go with the galette. As always he did a wonderful job with them We enjoyed having Jess and Scott over and sharing some of our dishes with veggies from the bounty!