Monday: Springtime standard

 

Roasted asparagus with a white bean salad with almond, scallions and dill.

Monday: rustic fall dinner

Roasted Carnival squash with white bean croquettes.

Last time the croquettes appeared on this blog, they were done with ginger, garlic and soy sauce as flavors. This time, we switched it up and used scallions and a pinch of allspice.

Roasted squash is a winter standby for us - some types, like butternut, fall apart and therefore are only suitable for soups or purees, but acorn and similar types can be halved, roasted and eaten from the shell:

ROASTED ACORN SQUASH

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and pulp (a grapefruit spoon works well). Salt the squash.
Cover a roasting pan or tray with foil and grease it slightly. Place the squash halves in, cut side down.
Pour about 1/2 cup water into the pan around the squash halves (that's just to keep things humid as they roast).
Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Then pull out the pan, flip the squashes to cut side up, and grate in a little of your choice of cheese. Replace in the oven just long enough for the cheese to melt.

Thursday: Mispoona Two Ways

Buckwheat noodles, mispoona, and radishes with tart tofu-mispoona dressing.

Mispoona is a cross between mizuna, a Japanese mustard green, and Tatsoi, another brassica family member. This was our first time cooking with it.

In this recipe, mispoona greens are blended with soft tofu, lemon juice, and lemon zest to make a sour, bright-green dressing. The remaining mispoona is chopped coarsely and used as a bed for the soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles. Radishes and sesame seeds act as garnishes. Interestingly, although red radishes are relatively spicy on their own, they are completely tamed by the tofu-based dressing. (Dairy seems to have the same effect.)

Most importantly, this recipe provides an opportunity to show off our stacking pyrex bowl set. Here's the mise-en-scene: