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roasted for 4 recipes

Good Monday morning to you all. What I have for you today is a way to turn a batch of roasted vegetables into either a salad, hash or soup. If you would like to make all three, you’ll need to make a triple batch of the roasted sweet potato and butternut squash recipe. If you want to just give one of the dishes a try, make a single batch. And, of course, the roasted veggies are delish all on their own.

A beautiful box of McClendon’s Select produce that I bought at the Scottsdale Farmer’s Market a week ago was the inspiration for all of these recipes. McClendon’s Select is offering an “order ahead – drive-thru contact-free pick up” service at the market each Saturday in Scottsdale during this time of quarantine. Click HERE for more information on that.

If you hang in there and get to the final recipe here, you’ll get to my confession. Hey, something to look forward to!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash

  • 3 cups peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash (about 1 medium squash)
  • 3 cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes (about 1 large potato)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Trader Joe’s Everything But the Elote Seasoning Blend
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, and set aside.

Put the butternut squash and sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil and the TJ’s seasoning blend and generously season with salt and pepper.

Spread the vegetables in one layer on the prepared baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, toss and roast for an additional 15 minutes.

Use for either the Hash, Soup, or Salad recipes below. One batch is enough for any ONE of the recipes. If you want to make all three, you’ll need to make a triple batch of the roasted vegetables.

Roasted Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Hash

  • 2 ½ tablespoons of butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 recipe of Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash, from above, heated through

In a small bowl, mix softened butter with honey and cinnamon until cinnamon is completely blended throughout.

Put a dollop of the honey-cinnamon butter on the warm sweet potatoes and squash and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

Roasted Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash and Kale Salad

Vinaigrette

  • 1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • Pinch of teaspoon salt
  • Pinch of teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Salad

  • 1 bunch dinosaur kale (aka Tuscan kale or black kale)
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1 recipe of Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash, from above
  • A handful of dry roasted almonds

Vinaigrette: Place the balsamic, mustard, salt, and sugar in a blender and puree until smooth. Slowing add in the oil, with the machine running, until emulsified.

Salad: Use a paring knife to cut out the center rib from each kale leaf. Next, tear the kale into bite-sized pieces. Place in a salad spinner, rinse, and spin dry.

In a large bowl, massage the vinaigrette, ½ cup of the Parmesan, a pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper into the kale by hand for 2 to 3 minutes or until it is broken down, wilted, and silky.

Pile the kale onto a small serving platter, top with the roasted squash and potatoes, the dry roasted almonds, and the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and serve.

Serves 2 to 4

Before I give you the soup recipe, I have a confession to make. While making all these dishes at the same time, I became distracted and absent-minded and tossed the entire bag of arugula in the pot instead of 1 cup. I did not even realize it until I tasted the soup. Oh my gosh, was it ever bitter and honestly awful. What to do? Thankfully, I had a huge bag of sweet potatoes from Costco remaining. I peeled and cut up a couple more onions and sweet potatoes, roasted them and added them to my bitter soup. It was close but not quite there yet, so I added a few squeezes of honey, blended that in and got it back to where it should have been in the first place.

The lesson for you to take away – Always taste what you’ve made before serving it, mostly for seasoning, but also just in case. And don’t give up on something, there is often a way to fix it and bring it back to where it should be.

Roasted Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Pepitas

Soup

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced
  • 3/4 cup baby arugula leaves
  • 1 recipe of Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash, from above
  • 3 to 4 cups chicken broth

Toasted Pepitas

  • 1 cup raw pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • Salt

Soup: Heat a large pot, and add the olive oil, once the oil is hot, add the onion and apple and saute until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the roasted potatoes and squash and toss to coat. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add the arugula and simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer solids to a blender or food processor. Add the liquid from the pot and puree until smooth. Puree in batches if needed. Return to the pot and reheat when ready to serve.

Toasted Pepitas: Place the pepitas in a small skillet over high heat. When they start to snap and pop, reduce heat to medium and continually toss them in the skillet until they are lightly browned. Turn off the heat and add the butter and toss to coat. Generously sprinkle with salt and immediately transfer to a plate to cool.

Ladle hot soup into bowls and sprinkle with toasted pepitas.

Serves 4


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