A good dish ruined by a few flakes!

I wrote this post and then hit "preview" and saw that it looks like I'm calling this woman a flake. I'm not, really -- I like her! I'll get to the flake reference soon...

Anyway, if you don't recognize her, she's Anne Burrell, star of "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" on the Food Network. If you haven't caught that show yet, you may recognize her from "Iron Chef America." Anne is (was?) one of Mario Batali's chefs, and she's easy to spot by her spiky yellow/blonde hair.

Her show debuted this year and I think it has been met with some mixed reviews because of her big personality. Me? I like her a lot. I like that she's not skinny and that she doesn't wear low-cut shirts and that she seems real. She uses words like "crud," which you don't hear much on the Food Network. Plus, from watching ICA I know that she kicks butt in the kitchen. The only thing I don't like is that she does this growly thing, like she's Louis Armstrong, when she's talking. A lot. I do a little of that when I'm singing "Sweet Home Chicago" in the band, but a little goes a long way. It gets annoying after awhile, plus it's not good for your voice. Anne -- love ya tons, but give your voice and your viewers a break, and cut back on the growly voice.

Anyway, I thought I'd try one of her recipes, and the one that caught my eye was Fregula with Braised Butternut Squash, because I had the ingredients on hand (except for Fregula, but I did have Israeli Couscous, which she said was a good substitute).

This recipe calls for butternut squash in 1/4-inch dice. Funny thing, they don't show her doing the chopping on the show. After doing it, it's no wonder! It takes for-friggin'-ever!

Other than that, this recipe was easy to pull together and was a different use for butternut squash. Unfortunately, when I tasted the dish, I went "YOW!" because it was REALLY hot. My "pinch" of of red pepper flakes must have been generous! If I ever made it again, I'd measure the red pepper flakes in an 1/8 teaspoon. Restaurant chefs can get away with not measuring, but I really can't.

Also, you don't see any chives, which were called for in the recipe. That's because I sent my husband to the store for chives, and he returned with rosemary! It didn't matter, though. Once I had tasted the overly hot dish, I wouldn't have wasted the chives in there. I toyed with adding extra chicken broth and making it into a soup, but I didn't bother. I might make this again, with the rest of the 1/4-inch squash cubes I cut and froze.

Fregula with Braised Butternut Squash
Slightly modified from the Food Network site

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or a pinch, if you're brave)
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes, passed through a food mill
2 cups peeled and diced 1/4-inch pieces butternut squash
1 to 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Bay leaf
1 1/2 cups medium fregula* or Israeli couscous (I used couscous because I couldn't find fregula at Wegmans)
1 bunch chives, finely chopped (I didn't use)

Coat a large saucepan generously with extra virgin olive oil. Add the onions and bring to a medium high heat. Season generously with salt and add the crushed red pepper. Saute until the onions are translucent and very aromatic, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the tomatoes. Rinse the tomato can with water and add to the pan. Season with salt and cook over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the water has reduced. Add the squash, stock, and bay leaf. Taste for seasoning and season with salt if needed. Cook until the squash is cooked through and most of the liquid has absorbed, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Bring a pan of well-salted water to a boil. Add the fregula and cook until it is cooked through but still al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Strain and add to the pot with tomatoes and squash. Stir to incorporate. Add more stock or water if the mixture is dry and cook longer if it is too soupy. When done it should have a stew-like consistency. Stir in the chives. This will be really good today but even better tomorrow!

An Excellent Choice at Max of Eastman Place

When my parents took me to restaurants when I was young, my Mom always advised me to order something I wouldn’t ordinarily get at home. I follow that approach to this day. I often opt for seafood, because some of my family has hang-ups about seafood and I rarely cook it.

I was especially happy with my choice when I ordered the evening’s fish special at Max of Eastman Place during a recent night out. Sea bass was served with seasonal vegetables and fregula, all in a light sauce that had a hint of curry. The fish had a gorgeous golden brown sear; its crispy exterior gave way to the firm but flaky interior. The tender, colorful veggies and a subtly flavored sauce complemented the fish beautifully. Fregula, little balls of pasta cooked to al dente, added a nice chewy texture to the dish. It was something I never could have prepared, and I was thankful that Mom’s dining philosophy had stuck with me all these years.

I’ve noticed that many people seem to stick with familiar dishes when they dine at restaurants. What is your preference? Tried and true or something new?

Note: this post also appears in my blog for FlavorsofRochester.com.

2008 Hall of Shame

Happy New Year!

I decided my first post of 2009 would be a look back at 2008 ... at the dishes that didn't work. I suppose that seems negative, but each recipe was a lesson learned, and hopefully helped me become a better cook. Maybe posting these will help you avoid the mistakes I made!

1. Basic (blah) Brownies -- These weren't inedible, just blah. Luckily they had a texture that was chewy enough that I could use them in mini trifles, which were a hit with friends who came over for dinner. My photo was picked up by Tastespotting, and the post was also featured on YumSugar, so the post was one of the most popular posts of 2008. Go figure.

2. Anne Burrell’s Fregula with Braised Butternut Squash -- I'm sure this is a good recipe. I just killed it by having a heavy hand with red pepper flakes. Lesson learned: go easy on these little flakes, and TASTE before you add more!

3. Butterfinger Bars – I found this recipe on the Cooking Light bulletin board, posted by a friend who is known for being a great source of recipes. It looked like a good use of candy corn, which I don't care for, plus it was really easy -- melt candy corn, stir in peanut butter, refrigerate, then dip in chocolate. Well, my candy corn never fully melted -- maybe it was a tad stale? When I mixed it with the peanut butter, there were little bits of candy corn suspended in the peanut butter. I tried microwaving the two together, to no avail. I ended up dumping the whole mess.

4. Baked Butternut Squash Fries (right) – These sounded like a good idea but I think the picture sums up the problem. They were limp and yucky. You can cut something the shape of a french fry, but that doesn't make it taste good.

5. French Onion Soup, Cooks Illustrated 2008 – I didn't get any photos, but the recipe was an involved process and none of it went as described. First, you cook the onions in the oven. The result was supposed to be onions in a lot of liquid, but mine went completely dry. Then you put the pan on the stove and sautee the onions, deglazing them three times. All it took was for me to turn my back on the pan for a minute and the bottom of the pan became a burnt mess. I remedied the situation by dumping the onions into a separate pot, but all the flavor that would have come from the deglazing process was lost in the burnt crud. The result, of course, was so-so. The disaster was my doing … but in any case, it’s an involved recipe that calls for a lot of attention.

6. Roasted Delicata Squash with Spinach – This was a Wegmans recipe that I tasted at the store. The problem was me (again). The cauliflower was cut bigger than the delicata squash, so the cauliflower barely roasted, while the delicata was mushy. See those little black things in the photo? Those are my burnt onions. Lesson learned: when you are roasting veggies in the oven, cut them about the same size.

7. Rocky Road – This was based on a combination of chocolate and peanut butter, with marshmallows mixed in. I added peanuts, which isn't what caused the problem with the recipe. The chocolate mixture was solid only when it was refrigerated. Even then, when you picked it up, it melted immediately upon contact with your hands. Never again.

8. Stephanie Izard's Banana Bread -- This time, the fault wasn't mine. It was definitely the recipe, from last year's winner of Top Chef. It called for 1 teaspoon of salt, which gave the bread a pronounced salty flavor. I've wondered if the recipe might be the result of sloppy editing on the Bravo site, but I checked, and the recipe is still the same. Either way, it's not my cup of tea. Charlie would have eaten it, though.

9. Roasted Red Pepper Remoulade Sauce from The Southern Living Cookbook – This recipe called for 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley, and that amount overwhelmed the whole recipe. I tried adding various things to perk it up but the sauce was just blah. I served it to company with crab cakes, because I didn't have an alternative. The rest (and wouldn't you know, it made tons) went down the drain.

10. French Onion Burgers from Cuisine at Home Magazine -- I saw this recipe in a sample issue the magazine sent me. Our family is a big fan of French Onion Soup, so I thought I'd give the recipe a try. It wasn't a hit with us. It was bland and didn't evoke the flavors of the soup at all. If this is a good example of their recipes, I wouldn't subscribe.

Coming up next: my Top 10 of 2008!