Gochujang-and-Sesame-Roasted Acorn Squash

Today we tackled the acorn squash and I’ve cooked it before but Caleb’s never had it so he wanted to try a Bon Appetit Gochujang and sesame roasted winter squash recipe. The recipe is designed for butternut squash specifically but they also list acorn or delicata squash as great substitutes so we decided to give it a shot.

All we had to do was slice the squash and toss it on some gochujang, sesame, oil, and soy sauce. I baked it for 30 or 40mins and it was soft and ready to eat! Easy.

I did top it with some scallions this time which added a nice brightness to the squash and overall it was great. The squash was soft and sweet and the gochujang added a nice little kick to finish. It was such a great balanced flavor and so easy which I love. I love squash season.

Sweet Corn Salad with Pancetta and Mushrooms

As I mentioned before, we have a ton of veggies included two more ears of sweet corn on the cob so I looked through my recipes and found this one from Food and Wine for a sweet corn salad with pancetta and mushrooms.

Of course, salad is a great way to use veggies and along with the corn I also had mushrooms that desperately needed to get used so I thought now would be a great time to try this recipe out.

I went to the store and had some difficulty finding pancetta so I decided to try salt pork which I’ve never used before. The recipe also calls for crimini mushrooms but I had baby bellas so that substitute would have to do as well. I bought a salad blend because that’s what I like a little more than frisée and went with a goat cheese instead of the recommended gruyére cheese. Clearly, this recipe was taken more as a guide but with cooking, I have no problem substituting ingredients. I’m the one eating the dish and it’s all fine with me.

I cooked the corn and cut the kernels off the cob, cooked the salt pork (which turns out, is just saltier bacon), and cooked the mushroom in the leftover pork fat. The mushrooms got this great earthy, meaty flavor which I loved and I ended up wishing I had just a little more mushrooms to add. I whisked lemon juice, honey, vinegar, and olive oil together and seasoned a little with some pepper since I knew the salt pork was already quite salty. I tossed everything in the dressing and called it a salad.

Overall, it was a really good salad that was super well balanced. The lemon juice was a little strong and I should’ve balanced the dressing a little more before tossing everything together but I like tart lemon juice so it wasn’t terrible or too overpowering. With the earthiness of the mushroom and the creamy goat cheese I was soo happy. The corn added such a nice sweet crunch when everything else got a little soggy and it was just a really great, filling salad. A great use of the veggies that I was super happy with.

Crispy Salt and Vinegar Potatoes

I am a lover of salt and vinegar chips and while I was sifting through my recipe cards I found this one for crispy salt and vinegar potatoes from Bon Appetite and decided to give it a shot. I was a little skeptical about the vinegar before I started and Caleb easily declined this side dish today so it was all for me and I was pretty excited about it.

The recipe was pretty simple, cut the potatoes in half or quarters, boil them in water and distilled white vinegar until tender then crisp them up in butter. I topped them with a little salt and pepper and a splash more of vinegar and served. Of course, I didn’t have chives because I’m always lacking in herbs but that was totally fine with me. Chives would’ve added a nice touch but I still enjoyed the flavor of the salt and vinegar potatoes alone. At first bite I was a little worried I didn’t have enough of the sour tart vinegar taste but I didn’t want to overwhelm myself initially so I did top it sparingly but once I really ate the potatoes and got into them the flavor of the vinegar-soaked into the potatoes while boiling really came out and it was really really delicious.

I’ve never considered a salt and vinegar potato before but I do love the chips on occasion and this was a really inventive way for me to mix up the potatoes a little bit. I’ve already recommended it to friends and I hope they enjoy it. It seems everyone has extra potatoes that need to be eaten but this is something new to that old classic favorite.

CORT - Wild Ginger Asian Fusion

It’s sushi time again. I had some errands to run in Ithaca and we usually get take out from somewhere around there since there are more options than in Cortland. Caleb went for a sub but I was feeling sushi and my list for Wild Ginger is coming to an end so I figured I’d finish it off and try the last roll I’ve been eyeing.

LOCATION: 45 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY 13045

Today’s order is the Vegetarian Dragon Roll which has fried sweet potato inside topped with avocado. Of course, I’ve decided on my staples, Ebi and Ika sushi and I was not disappointed. The Vegetarian dragon roll was a great choice. I didn’t know about sweet potato rolls before but a few years ago my cousins introduced them to me and I thought it they would be a little too dense or weird to have a potato inside a sushi roll but I actually love the mixture and welcome it in contrast to lighter fish flavors. This dragon roll wasn’t too heavy but it was a good filler that didn’t leave me hungry afterward. There was a nice warm crispy inside texture and of course a creamy avocado exterior. There was a salty sauce drizzled on top already so this didn’t really need any extra soy and stood well on its own. I like this combination together and I’m happy with the meal overall. I'm still in newlywed bliss with my Ika discovery so I was happy with that texture and flavor alongside the veggie dragon roll and the ebi. A successful dinner indeed.

Avocado Corn Salad

We have received the gift of vegetables from our friend Erik and by vegetables I mean a huge produce box of assorted veggies. I’m gonna be spending the foreseeable future cooking a lot of different veggies so buckle up kids because we’re in for an adventure. Erik’s a teacher in a nearby school and his school was doing some sort of vegetable/food drive and he managed to have a lot of boxes to give to his friends. I’m not exactly sure what happened but I’m not mad about it. The box came with fresh corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, acorn squash, zucchini, lettuce, a bell pepper, and potatoes. We don’t tend to go through veggies too quickly so this is gonna be a trick and I’m gonna guess I’ll be eating the bulk of it because Caleb is pretty indifferent to veggies.

This was the perfect time to get a recipe via Instagram from Jenna Fisher from The Office. I’ve been following her lately because of her podcast with Angela Kinsey about their time on the show but Jenna also posts other things going on in her life and different things that she’s currently promoting. She’s currently doing a partnership with King’s Hawaiian bread and flashed a recipe on her story for this Avocado Corn Salad. I managed to get a screen shot of the recipe because I’m not sure where her physical copy is from exactly but she loves it and the ingredients looked like something I could tackle so I gave it a shot.

This was a great use of some of the veggies we got and all I had to do was buy some avocados and we were ready to roll. I followed the recipe which was pretty simple and made my own salad. Caleb also picked some orange cherry tomatoes at work in their garden so I used these which was a cute softer touch to the salad. I didn’t make a full batch because I was going to be the only one eating it and I tend to get bored of dishes and I’m not a fan of eating them every day for the whole week. I also cut back on tomatoes a little because I’m not a huge fan of them but in the end they added such a nice fresh acidic brightness. The cucumbers were a great crunch and the corn was a little sweet which worked so well with the creamy buttery avocado. Everything was balanced and really good. I would recommend this to anyone who likes these ingredients and wants a quick fresh salad. I’m getting a little avocado fatigue so I would hold off on making this again but it’s really my kind of salad.