the cook stack

I am cooking my way through Cook This Book by Molly Baz and currently working on the “So. Many. Veggies.” chapter. Tonight I made “Roasted Squash with Buttered Pine Nuts and Feta”.

In this recipe, sturdy squash are cut and roasted in a hot oven while a garlic-butter sauce with pine nuts is prepared on the stove. To complete the dish, the squash is topped with the butter sauce, feta, and lemon juice. I found the dish simple to prepare, with most of the work being chopping the squash. I even managed to set out my kids’ crafts for tomorrow during the roasting time.

The recipe calls for 3 pounds of squash, of which I only had about 2 and a quarter – maybe that is what threw the balance of this dish off for me. The predominant flavor in the squash was salt, and there was an excess of butter and pine nuts in my opinion. Next time, I would:

1. Use 3 pounds of squash *and* dial back the salt on the baking tray
2. Cut the butter in half, reduce the pine nuts from a third to a quarter cup, and let the pine nuts get *really* toasty, almost burnt in a frying pan
3. Keep using expensive feta cheese, as it helps the dish so much

I would serve this again with salmon, or as part of a vegetarian dinner plate, maybe with a crisp salad and a chickpea dish.

As I approach the halfway point of the vegetables chapter in Cook This Book, I have been reflecting on the recipes. Here are my thoughts so far:

• These dishes have strong flavors and most can stand on their own as the star of a meal
• The amount of vegetables used in each recipe is huge, and every dish except one (“Blistered Broccolini with Charred Dates, Lemon and Sesame”) has had at least 4 servings
• I like the way Molly writes recipe instructions, especially the beginning of the recipes, when she walks through the mise en place
• The nicknames that Molly uses for vegetables are annoying, as nearly every online review of this book mentions. However, the nicknames are useful for offering some of these foods to toddlers. For example, eating something bright orange called “Sweetie P” was more appealing than eating “sweet potato” to my pickiest child

Onto tweaking this recipe and cooking the next one, “Smooshed and Crispy Potatoes with Salt ‘n’ Vinegar Sour Cream”. Stay tuned!