Day: December 14, 2012

Turkey Tracks: Roasting and Cooking the Blue Hubbard Squash

Turkey Tracks:  December 14, 2012

Roasting and Cooking the Blue Hubbard Squash

Remember the Blue Hubbard Squash I grew and wrote about back in October?

Well, I roasted it this week.

The temperature had been dropping, and I had the squash stored in the garage so they could keep on “sugaring off.”  Temps were low enough that I was afraid that the garlic and the squashes would freeze in the garage–so everything came inside.

John cut last year’s Blue Hubbard, which I bought for about $8, out in the garage–a place of mystery to me.  This year I was on my own.  And let me tell you, it took the BIG French knife, lots of muscle, and lots of patience.  I could only get the knife into one side at once.  Eventually, I was able to pry it open.

I scooped out the seeds and pulp and took them out to the chickens, who ooed and ahhed.  The smell of the squash was so clean and sweet.  The flesh was bright, intense orange.

Each half took up the whole of one of my big baking pans and both filled the whole of the oven.  It took about 90 minutes to roast them completely.

Blue Hubbard cooked

Here are the halves, flipped over and ready to have the roasted flesh scooped out.

Blue Hubbard cooked 2

This one squash made an enormous amount of cooked filling.  I put serving sizes into plastic bags and froze them–reserving about 4 cups for that night’s dinner–pan fried local ham steak, sauteed baby bok choy (with fresh ginger and our garlic), and the Blue Hubbard squash.  (Fall is the traditional time for “putting up” pork raised over the summer–and a pork ham takes a bit of time to smoke, so big ham slices are now filling the local coops.)

I placed the roasted squash for dinner into a saucepan with a cover–added about 1/4 cup of our local raw butter, a big dollop of our local raw heavy cream, a splash of our local maple syrup, a pinch of sea salt, and about a teaspoon of Penzy’s cinnamon.  I put the mixture on low heat and went back after a bit to stir it all up.  It was smooth and incredibly sweet–I hardly needed the maple syrup in the mixture.

Delicious!

Turkey Tracks: Blog Request: Cream Caramel Cake

Turkey Tracks:  December 14, 2012

BLOG REQUEST:  CREAM CARAMEL CAKE

A blog reader recently asked me to post the recipe for the Cream Caramel Cake I pictured in the January 25th entry, 2011, on making French Onion Soup, which included a picture and a discussion of a Cream Caramel Cake I found in Better Homes and Gardens, December 2005.  The reader tore out the picture and didn’t get the recipe.  I tore out the recipe, but didn’t save the picture.  Nevertheless, I feel sure that the cake recipe below is what this reader is asking me to post.

Caramel cake cut

The cake pictured in the magazine was a secret family recipe, so this recipe probably comes close but isn’t exactly what Pat Shelter is really making.  I didn’t have mocha syrup on hand, so kind of make one up–you can go back to the original entry to see what I did.

This is a BIG cake–3 LAYERS–with 8 CUPS OF POWDERED SUGAR in the frosting.  There’s so much sugar that it makes my teeth hurt just to read the frosting recipe.  The cake itself seems to be assembled in a classic manner.  Do bring your ingredients to room temperature before starting the cake–or the frosting.

Cake ingredients:

1 cup butter

5 eggs separated

1 cup buttermilk

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp. EACH baking powder and baking soda

pinch of salt

2 1/2 cups sugar

5 Tablespoons total:  mocha syrup, coffee liqueur, and Irish cream liqueur–or strongly brewed coffee for all 5 Tablespoons

2 tsps. vanilla extract

1 recipe IRISH CREAM FROSTING  (1 cup butter, softened, with electric mixer on medium to high speed until smooth.  Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating well.  Slowly beat in 6 Tablespoons of whatever flavoring from above you have chosen.  Beat in 2 Tablespoons of vanilla.  Gradually add 6 MORE CUPS POWDERED SUGAR, beating until smooth and of spreading consistency.

1.  Allow butter, egg yolks, egg whites, and buttermilk to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans; set aside.  In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2.  In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Beat in sugar until well combined.  Beat in egg yolks one at a time.  (Take time on this step.)  Beat on high speed for 5 minutes.

3.  Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat on low speed after each addition just until combined.  In a bowl combine the listed flavorings as desired–or use strong coffee–and gently stir into cake.

4.  Thoroughly wash beaters.  In a mixing bowl beat egg whites on medium to high speed until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).  Fold 1 cup of the beaten egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture, fold remaining egg whites into egg yolk mixture.

5.  Divide batter among prepared pans.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched.  Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove cakes from pans; cool thoroughly on racks.  DO NOT FROST UNTIL THE CAKE LAYERS ARE TOTALLY COOL.

6.  To assemble cake, place one cake layer on a serving plate.  Spread top of cake with 3/4 cup of the Irish Cream frosting.  Top with a second cake layer.  Spread top of cake with 3/4 cup frosting.  Top with remaining cake layer.  Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake.