Out Like a (Really Angry) Lamb?

Hold on a minute. Where in the Sam Hill did Spring go? I swear, last weekend as I was lying in bed moaning a soft warm breeze gently wafted through the room. And of course, now that I'm mostly recuperated, it's back to bleeping cold. It SNOWED Friday. It didn't stick of course, but I reserve the right to be hostile. I'm not unfamiliar with the whole warm up-cool down phenomenon. The year I turned 25 it was 45 degrees on my birthday which falls smack in the middle of June - not exactly ideal for the pool party I had planned. But I no longer live in the frozen tundra that is Boston and I expect my weather to be a bit kinder here. Do you hear that March? Also, if I'm not mistaken the month started with some roaring blustering winds. Where's the damn lamb I was promised?

For anyone who's feeling the cold as much as I am, here's one more wintry recipe to get you through these last chilly days: A nice toasty sausage and cheese calzone. All the oozy goodness of the pizza parlor, none of the leaving the house.


SAUSAGE AND CHEESE CALZONE
makes 2 calzone

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 recipe dough
1/2 lb sausage, casing removed
1 C ricotta
1/4 C Parmiggiano-Reggiano Cheese
pinch of salt and pepper
1/8 t nutmeg
2 cloves garlic
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 475 F. Place the sausage in a warm pan and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook for 5-7 minutes until crumbly and nicely browned. Remove to a plate covered with a paper towel so that the grease drains off.

In a large bowl, combine the cup of ricotta with the parm, a pinch of salt and pepper and the nutmeg. Then use a microplane and shave the garlic cloves into the mixture. If you don't own one, you can mince the garlic. Mix well. Then add in the sausage bits and again mix well.

Divide the dough in half. Roll out each piece in a circle, roughly 8" round. Spread half of the ricotta mixture on top then cover with half of the mozzarella cheese.

Fold the top down over the bottom to form a semicircle, then fold and twist the edges to seal.
Repeat with the second circle of dough. Sprinkle a bit of cornmeal on a baking sheet and place the calzone on the sheet.
You can brush with olive oil if you like, or just pop in the oven. Bake at 475 for 10-12 minutes, until nicely browned. The crust should be hard and the middle should be deliciously gooey.

Empanaditas

Do you have any friends that give you a culinary inferiority complex? Because as much as I consider myself a competent cook, I totally do. My internet friend Robin is incredible. Everything she makes for dinner sounds straight off a restaurant menu. I'm serious.

Gorgonzola-stuffed chicken breasts with fig-balsamic reduction and roasted asparagus,

Blue cheese-apple puff pastry tartlets, chicken roasted with olives and lemon, and quinoa with swiss chard and currants,

Pork roast with garlic, port, brown sugar, chile paste and five-spice powder,

Lamb chops with orange, rosemary and pistachio gremolata, honey-glazed root veggies (carrots, parsnips, turnips), and farro with fresh peas and radishes. Candied ginger shortbread for dessert.

Intimidating and insanely mouth-watering right? The trick with friends like this is not to give up, or become discouraged because you will never cook as well as they do. Oh no. The trick to to get them to give you their recipes. I've been hoping she'll start a food blog, because then I could read about all her delicious meals in more detail, but no such luck. Although, today I can share one of her recipes with you! These empanaditas are incredibly addictive, and it's a pretty flexible recipe. I changed the filling based on what I had readily available, and you can too. Of course, you can also assume Robin's way is the way and I'm sure you can't go wrong.

EMPANADITAS FILLED WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND GOAT CHEESE
Courtesy of Robin, who actually is a professional at this kind of thing. She has one cookbook out already and promises another one soon. But I'm not giving up hope on the food blog idea. Come on Robin! Do it!

first is my adaptation of the filling, followed by Robin's original

INGREDIENTS:
First you need a crust. Robin allows a store bought crust (you need the kind with both a top and bottom for enough dough). I make my own from my standard recipe, but empanaditas are a lot of work, so you may want to cheat.

My filling
1.5 pounds diced butternut squash (I dice it small, smaller than an inch)
olive oil
salt
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
2 T Mrs. Renfro's Green Salsa

Robin's Filling
1.5 pounds diced butternut squash
Olive oil spray
Salt
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
5 or 6 roasted, peeled, seeded pasilla chiles (I used canned this time), diced
3 (?) T hot salsa

If you'd like them to brown up nicely, like many pie adjacent items, they could do with an egg wash. - Clearly, I did not do this, my poor empanaditas in the photo suffered from lack of egg wash, and being cooked in a toaster oven, because as I may have mentioned before, IT'S HOT HERE and there was no way I was turning on the real oven.

Dipping Sauce (I made this up. Ryan likes to dip.)
1 C sour cream
2 T lime juice
2 t cumin
(mix well)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400. Spread squash on a baking pan, spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle with salt, roast for about 30 minutes until soft. Check it, and allow extra time. If you cut the squash bigger it will take longer to cook. Cool. Mix squash, chiles (if you're using Robin's filling), goat cheese and salsa together in a large bowl until well blended.

Roll out the pie crust until it's a bit thinner than for a regular pie. Then cut out 3" circles. Robin has a pastry cutter, but you know I just use a drinking glass turned upside down. You can roll up the excess dough, and roll it out to cut even more circles. Then roll out each circle a little bit more, and place a heaping tablespoon of filling on the top half. Fold over to form a little half moon shape and then use the tines of a fork to make the edges look nice (a step I neglected in the insane heat - don't skip it, it's pretty). If you're going to make them right away, you can baste the tops with a little egg thinned with a bit of water, then pop them in a 400 oven on a baking sheet for 20-25 minutes, until crisp and golden. You could also freeze them (before you do the egg wash). They cook up beautifully. This recipe will make about 40.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Ready or Not

Tomorrow I am having surgery on my ankle. At 7am. I don't know if there's really a way to be ready for this, but I know I'm sure as hell trying.

FACT: I am not an organized person. I am not the person you call when you can't find the syllabus, I am not the person who knows the date of the office party, I no longer wear matching underwear (I know, I said I no longer implying that at one point I did - IGNORE THAT), it will take me half an hour to find the receipt from that thing I bought last night.

And yet.

BEHOLD

I left work today with everything ready for my replacement and color coded by day. Seriously.


I will miss 10 days of work. For each of these days, and then some, I have an outfit (if you call pajamas and gym shorts and t-shirts "outfits") picked out. Including underwear. Ready. So that my husband won't have to ask me where these things are.


This may look like an ordinary closet, but do not be deceived. Here, hanging ironed and ready is every outfit I will need from the day I return to work until the end of the year. Oh yes.


And of course, there's the freezer:
The vat on the bottom shelf is homemade chicken stock which I've begged to have magically turned into matzoh ball soup. But the frozen meals include:

Turkey Chili
Enchiladas
Artichoke and Spinach Calzone
Macaroni and Cheese
Tofu Stuffed Shells - You are so happy I didn't give you the recipe for these, we're going to smother them in more mozzarella and tomato sauce and try to salvage them.
Meatballs - for meatball sandwiches
Pizza Dough - two balls
Sauce for Sausage and White Bean Pasta

And of course, you need frozen desserts too, like
Snickerdoodles
and Chocolate Chip Cookies (get your own recipe, I tried out Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything and it ended in cursing. Needless to say, not impressed).

Ryan keeps pointing out that I'm not going to be in a coma for six weeks, I'll only be off my feet, but while I may not be an organized person, I can certainly admit, I may have a little problem with control.

The Last (Week of ) Supper

On Tuesday, May 18th I am having surgery on my ankle. It seems particularly unfair to be bedridden when it's getting to be so beautiful outside. Sadly, it also means this week is the last time I'll be cooking for quite awhile. Don't worry, I'll try to line up some guest bloggers so that things aren't a total ghost town around here, but we're looking at 6-8 weeks off my feet. I will have to give up control (a skill I am still working on).

So for my final week:

Monday: Sausage Sandwiches Nothing too fun or exciting there, just sausages with cheese and onions on good rolls. Needs to be quick because I have to drive to my parents' house after work and then back home and I expect to be very tired.

Tuesday:
Vegetarian Monte Cristo and Potato Salad - I've got a doctor's appointment that night, so I'll be home a bit late. Seriously, I spend so much time at the doctor's these days, I want a chair with a little plaque and my name on it.



Wednesday:
Calzone Brilliant! The recipe always makes enough for 2 meals, so a set of calzone will join the other premade meals in the freezer.

Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs I use the same meatball recipe for the pasta dish as I do for the sandwiches. I'll use some of the meatballs for our spaghetti and tuck the rest in the freezer for sandwiches! Remember how I said I have problems giving up control? Right. I'm just putting away as many meals as I can.

Friday my parents are returning from a long trip to Scotland, so barring any Icelandic volcano activity, I'm hoping to have dinner with them!

Later this week: I'll give you an inventory of all the crazy I've assembled (both fridge and household) to keep things running smoothly when I'm injured. Be prepared.