Cooking the blog: Salty Crispy, Warm Spaghetti-Squash

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Made a few things this weekend from la blog. My latest feature, for all you who don't want to read all my blah blah blah is a letter grade.

A=Knock your socks off keeper (to quote PassUBy), A+ if my kids love it, too.
B=Tweak and perhaps it will be a KYSO
C=Not bad. Seen better.

First. Oh. Fabulous. The ah, Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats? (Scroll down. Link is lower in the post.) These are seriously good. Very seriously, very being included in my very short list of favorite recipes, and yes, perhaps even in the next BEACH COOKBOOK!

(Oh, not familiar with my original beach cookbook? Take a gander and weep baby. Then plan a vacation.)

dinner

fabulously beat up ...

By vicki rentel (aka...

Book Preview

The only changes I'd make, and I wouldn't make them every time, are that
1. I'd melt semi-sweet chocolate on the top and dust it with sea salt, and / or
2. I'd mix in salted peanuts. But then I'd leave the salt out of the brown butter & cereal.

Letter grade: A+

I also made warm spaghetti squash salad from Food & Wine. (It's the last recipe in the link.) I pretty much stuck to the program but not quite. I roasted the squash in the microwave. Why haven't I tried this before? Pricked it all over with a knife, then put it on 6 minutes @ 100%; flipped it over, then cooked another 8 minutes. Let it cool for five, then sliced in right in half and scooped out the seeds, then the fabulous strands of calorie-free strangely pasta-like squash.

So that's difference #1. I didn't roast the squash in the oven, and might not ever again. This was far, far too easy and fast. I used Kalamata, not green olives, and it's not as pretty with the hunks of diced brown olive. It's a pretty olive-y recipe, in fact, but not bad. I'd probably try the Moroccan squash next time, only I like the addition of almonds. I only had smoked around. They worked. I had it cold for lunch today and it was quite okay. I wouldn't KILL myself to make the recipe again, but all-in-all, a good day out for the new microwave skill.

Letter grade: C

I did chickpeas yesterday, too, from a recent recipe in Food & Wine.

Spicy Chickpea Salad

I didn't use tomato. Blech. I could because I have a few I plucked before the frost, but I don't use raw tomatoes as a rule. I cooked my own garbanzo beans in the slow cooker for oh, I don't know, two or three hours. Used a whole jalepeno, but only because I have about 50 outside on the plant, hanging on despite the coldish weather, and they're so sweet and vegetal. Hardly spicy. Except for not having mango powder and skipping the tomato, I otherwise stuck with the rules. Initially I thought, "Eh." But today it's quite nice. Better summer salad. Could add fresh corn. Little garlic. I reseasoned today and I think I'll pulverize the leftovers and use it as a dip. I wouldn't rush out for the ingredients. Let's say C+.