Tag: ginger

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butternut squash soup with fresh ginger

Despite San Francisco’s sunny, 70 degree days—70 degrees in late October is so worth sky-high rent—it is officially fall and high time to bust out the squash dishes. Butternut squash is cheap, delicious and versatile. You can make soup, roast it, throw it in risotto, on a pizza, in pasta … endless possibilities. This recipe will make enough soup for lunch the next day or to freeze for the next time you don’t feel like cooking.

Butternut Squash Soup with Fresh Ginger
1 medium butternut squash, cubed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 quart vegetable stock or water
2 t fresh ginger, grated
olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flake

The hardest part of cooking squash is peeling the dang thing. Here is my technique for cubing a butternut squash. Cut the squash into two pieces separating the round part from the neck. Standing the neck up in a cylindrical sort of way, cut off the peel. For the bulbous portion, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel off the skin like you would a melon. Cut into rough cubes.

Sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for another few minutes. Add the cubed squash and stock or water. Boil the soup partially covered for 30 – 40 minutes, until the squash is fork tender. Once the squash is tender, puree it with an immersion blender or in a standard blender. Add the grated ginger and season with salt and pepper. I served it topped with a little creme fraiche and chives.

Happy fall!

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honey ginger sandwich cookies with lemon cream

These cookies started out as ginger snaps. And then I realized that I didn’t have any ground ginger, remembered that I don’t actually like molasses, and worried that ginger snaps are often teeth-breakingly crunchy. Also, I wanted something lemony. So I improvised and ended up with these soft sandwich cookies. The fresh ginger is refreshing and pairs nicely with the lemon. The honey is mild, and much better than molasses. I might even suggest that it lends the soft texture to these cookies.

Honey Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Lemon Buttercream

For the cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 stick plus 2 T unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar, separated
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
2 T fresh ginger, diced

Preheat an oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over low heat, dissolve 1/4 cup sugar with the ginger. Take care to  stir often and watch it closely. Once dissolved, take of the heat. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Cream in remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg, honey and ginger-sugar mixture. Add flour and stir just to combine.

Place 1 T size dollops of cookie dough about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet. These cookies will spread out and flatten quite a bit while cooking. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a rack before frosting.

For the buttercream
6 T unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 lemon, zest and juice

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the zest and lemon juice. Beat in the powdered sugar. Spread a large dollop of frosting on one cooled cookie and top with another.

Jordan and I both enjoyed these cookies. While they won’t become my go-to cookie, Jordan says he wants to give them another try. The cookie was overshadowed by my very lemony buttercream frosting. Jordan thought I was just crazy to try a new cookie and a new frosting in just one confection—maybe I’ll bake only the cookies next time.

-Emily

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ginger mint gimlet

This cocktail is a favorite of our friend Robin. It is refreshing and summery – perfect for a warm San Francisco evening. A little gin, lime, mint and ginger sure make my apartment less stuffy! I’m guessing it’s also hot where you are, so go home, open your windows or sit on your porch and give this fine beverage a try.

Ginger Mint Gimlet, also know as Jessi’s Special
2 oz gin
2 limes, juiced
2 sprigs of mint, leaves removed from their stems
2 oz ginger beer or ginger ale

Shake the gin, lime juice and mint over vigorously ice. Strain into a glass and top off with ginger beer. Welcome Summer!

-Emily

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ginger lemon muffins

Jordan’s parents came over for breakfast on Saturday. I was thinking of making coffee cake, but then I stumbled upon these muffins on Molly Wizenburg’s blog Orangette. The picture was so cute I just had to make them.

Marion Cunningham’s Fresh Ginger Muffins, adapted from The Breakfast Book and Orangette
Yield: 12 muffins
One (~3-ounce) piece of unpeeled ginger root, washed well
¾ cup plus 3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I also decided that there is just no point in buying buttermilk when I can make it myself and have about cup of delicious homemade butter as the by-product. Want to learn how to make butter from scratch? Check out our post butter! homemade butter!)
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. baking soda

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a muffin tin.

Cut the unpeeled ginger root into large chunks. Process the ginger in a food processor until it is in tiny pieces; alternatively, mince by hand. Put the ginger and ¼ cup sugar in a small skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted and the mixture is hot. This takes only a couple of minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Add to the ginger mixture.

Put the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the butter for a second or two, then add the remaining ½ cup sugar, and beat until smooth. Add the eggs, and beat well. Add the buttermilk, and beat until blended. (At this point my batter looked a little curdled – ew – but after I added the dry ingredients, it looked like regular batter and tasted just fine).

Add the flour, salt, and baking soda, and beat just until smooth. Add the ginger-lemon mixture, and beat to mix well. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Serve warm with fresh, salted butter

Conclusions: Absolutely delicious (and totally adorable)! I ate two right out of the oven (and wanted another). The ginger is surprisingly subtle, considering how much ginger goes into these muffins, and the lemon is a lovely companion. I will certainly be making these again! And, you have to try the homemade butter! It is soooo good.

-Emily

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oven roasted fish with citrus

Tonight’s dish was inspired by a recipe in The Chronicle for a quick week-night dinner.  I prepared it as directed in the recipe last week and with my own twist this week.

Oven roasted fish with fennel and grapefruit, or with lemongrass and ginger
1 – 2 fillets of a mild, white fish (I used rockfish)
2 T fronds from a nice, fresh fennel bulb OR 1 stock lemongrass, cut into slivers
1/2 grapefruit, juiced OR 1 t fresh ginger, minced and 2 T lemon juice
2 T butter, cut into small pieces
Salt and pepper
Lemon, for serving

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Place fillets on a large piece of tin foil. Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the fillets. Lay the fennel fronds on top of the fish. Crinkle the sides of the tinfoil up a little and squeeze the grapefruit juice onto the fish. Top with the butter and close the foil package. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes, until the fish is just flaky. Be careful when opening the foil packet, the steam inside is really hot!

Serve fish with a fennel salad OR cabbage salad and a grain. We had wild rice the first night and jasmine rice the second time.

Conclusions: Tasty, seasonal, super easy and pretty healthy (although not the most photogenic). This recipe is also incredibly adaptable to different seasonings and flavors …  it may just become a weeknight favorite.

-Emily