Fall Squash Vegetable Soup

I made this soup for dinner tonight, and it turned out so well, that I had to post it. It was a cold and rainy day so it was most appropriate for a nice hot bowl of soup. The chili powder and the freshly ground pepper gave the soup an extra kick which also contradicted with the sweetness of the squashes. It was a nice combination of spices and sweet and savory. Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich and you have yourself a meal. Enjoy!

Makes 12 cups

4 cups cooked butternut squash
3 cups cooked acorn squash
1.5 cups cooked sweet potato squash
1 cup cooked buttercup squash
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 cups skim milk
6 cups chicken stock
2 tsp paprika
1.5 tsp chilli powder
1.5 tsp freshly ground pepper
1.5 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup water (optional)

Preparation:
If you are making this soup from scratch here are the directions:

Butternut squash: wash, peel, seed it and cut into cubes. Microwave for 10 minutes till soft.
Acorn squash: wash, cut it half, seed it and place it in a microwavable dish and microwave for 10 minutes till soft. When cooked, scoop out the filling and discard the skin. 
Sweet potato squash: wash, peel, seed it and cut into cubes. Microwave for 10 minutes till soft
Buttercup squash: wash, cut in half, seed it and place it in a microwavable dish and microwave for 15 minutes till soft. When cooked scoop out the filling and discard the skin. 

Peel, wash and chop the onion. Set aside. Peel and chop the garlic. Set aside. In a Dutch oven, over high heat, pour the ¼ cup olive oil. Add the chopped onion, garlic and sweat it till the onion is transparent, but not burned.   Add the cooked squashes and the milk. Lower the heat. With a hand held food blender, smash the squashes into a creamy texture. Add the chicken stock, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium high and heat through. If it becomes too thick add a cup of water. Heat through. Remove from heat. Add the chopped parsley, stir, and serve.  

Notes:
1) You can substitute any of the squashes with sweet potato, carrots, parsnips, or pumpkin.
2) If you don’t want to make the soup from scratch, you can buy canned/cooked squash.
3) It freezes wonderfully for any leftovers you might have. 
4) You can also cut the recipe in half. The above ingredients make 12 cups. 



Nutrition Facts  Serving Size 1 serving (254.3 g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 105
Calories from Fat 37
Total Fat 4.1g
Saturated Fat 0.6g
Cholesterol 1mg
Sodium 604mg
Total Carbohydrates 16.4g
Dietary Fiber 2.5g
Sugars 5.1g
Protein 2.9g

Salmon with Lemon Artichoke and Capers Sauce

Salmon is such a great fish which is a shame to actually cover it with any type of sauces.  But I got tired of eating grilled salmon all the time so I thought I'd try it with this lemon caper sauce that I sort of came up with a few years ago.  Back then, I used flour.  More like a basic white sauce but with lemon juice.  Over the years, I experimented making it with cornstarch, which takes a lot less time for the sauce to thicken than making it with flour.  It's a great sauce to pour over grilled chicken or any other type of fish.  Another time I baked some tilapia fillets in the same sauce in the oven, but without the cornstarch.  That recipe  in another Greek Fusion Cuisine Blog post.  This is a quick and easy recipe to make if you are crunched for time, or to make on a weekday after work.  Within an hour I had dinner on the table. 


Makes approximately 6-8 servings depending on how big you want your serving. 6 servings are approximately 8 oz each. The Nutritional information below is for 6 servings at approximately 8oz each.

1.5 lbs salmon fillet
 2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 lemon slices

Preheat oven to 500° F. (Broil) Put a grill pan – big enough to fit the salmon fillet- in the oven to get hot. When hot remove from the oven and brush with the one-tablespoon olive oil. 



 In the meantime, wash and pat dry the salmon. Put the salmon, skin side down on the pan and brush with the remaining olive oil.  Top the salmon with the lemon slices. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the pan back in the oven and broil for 8-10 minutes.  

Lemon Caper sauce with Artichoke hearts

¾ cup chicken stock
¼ cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
2 cups artichoke hearts quartered (from a jar will do fine)
1 tbsp cornstarch
¼ cup water
1.5 tbsp butter

2 tsp capers

Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauce-pan add the chicken stock, lemon juice and artichoke hearts. Heat through. Dilute the cornstarch in the ¼ cup water and add to the sauce stirring till slightly thickened. Turn the heat off. Add the butter and stir till the butter is melted.  Add the capers.   Remove the salmon from the grill pan and place in a serving platter.  Pour the lemon-artichoke-caper sauce on top.  Serve over hot rice   



 Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

11 serving (255.1 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 345

Total Fat 21.8g21.8

34Saturated Fat 5.4g5.4

27Cholesterol 79mg79

26Sodium 285mg285

12Total Carbohydrates 10.6g10.6

4Dietary Fiber 4.3g4.3

17Sugars 1.2g1.2

Protein 27.8g27.8

Ground Turkey Meatballs

Fried meatballs, French fries, fried banana peppers and even fried zucchini and fried eggplant were typical Saturday dinner foods while I was growing up in Greece. Saturday was the day that my mother used to do all the groceries (which is still very common there; everything is closed on Sundays in Greece, even now). Her day was packed from early in the morning till around 2:00 in the afternoon. She had to go to the baker for fresh bread to last till Monday; the butcher for meat to have for the weekend, the grocer to get milk and condiments, and the market for veggies. By the time she was all done it was time for everyone to gather for the mid- afternoon meal which was around 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon.

I used to go to school on Saturdays too. School there was 6 days – not 5 as it is here. (I am not sure, but I think now it is only 5 days). So when I‘d come home from school, my task was to help my mother with the food preparation and cooking. I used to love Saturday afternoons. All of us gathered in the house, no matter what the weather. Since these types of foods were mostly cooked in the summer, I remember the hot summer days, with all the doors and windows open, listening to the cicadas while most people were taking their afternoon siesta. The quietness of the summer heat, that you did not only feel but could hear… and yet our house was lively with conversation and recapping the week’s events. I loved those Saturdays and still remember them and cherish them. 

As for the meatball recipe, it is my mother’s recipe. She never used a cookbook or followed a recipe. She would just whip them up, and voila, we had tasty meatballs, that were practically gone by the time we all sat down to eat. And then, she would make more. The only difference with this recipe is that I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. I find ground turkey healthier and lighter on the stomach than ground beef. 

Enjoy!


Ground Turkey meatballs
Makes about 29-30 meatballs (about 1.5 oz each)

½ cup grated onion

¼ tsp crushed garlic

1.5 lbs ground turkey

1 cup dried bread crumbs

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper
½ tsp dried oregano

 

½ cup of olive oil for frying

Peel and wash the onion. With a cheese grater, grate the onion and set aside. Crush the garlic in a garlic press. Set aside. In a bowl, mix together the ground turkey, the crushed garlic, grated onion, the bread crumbs, the salt, pepper and oregano. Mix well together till all the ingredients are completely incorporated. Shape into 2” meatballs. In a frying pan, heat the ½ cup of olive oil, but not burning hot. Add the meatballs one at a time and fry till golden brown. You can omit this step and instead, place the meatballs in a cookie sheet and bake them in a preheated oven at 400° F for about ½ hour. Remove from the oven. 

You can either have the meatballs as appetizers or you can incorporate them in the marinara sauce, on my previous post, and serve over hot spaghetti. Take about 4 cups of the marinara sauce, add the meatballs, bring to a slow simmer till heated through, and remove from heat.


Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1.129 oz (32g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 97
Calories from Fat 59
Total Fat 6.5g
Saturated Fat 1.3g
Cholesterol 23mg
Sodium 90mg
Total Carbohydrates 2.8g
Dietary Fiber 0.2g
Sugars 0.3g
Protein 6.7g

 

Marinara Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Makes 7 cups

3 cups diced cooking onions

16 cups crushed fresh tomatoes

3 cloves garlic (about 3 tsp) crushed

1 cup olive oil

2 tbsp fresh Greek oregano

2 tsp salt

2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Pinch of sugar

Wash and clean the tomatoes. Place them in a food processor and grind. In a large pot over high heat, add the olive oil, the crushed garlic and the diced onions.  Sauté till transparent.  Add the crushed tomatoes, the fresh Greek oregano (if you don’t have Greek oregano, any type of dried oregano will do), salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. The sugar will take the acidity of the tomatoes away. Let it all come to a boil stirring constantly. Then lower the heat to simmer and let it cook till the sauce reduces to about half the size. That will take a couple of hours.

Since tomatoes retain a lot of water, I would suggest that you don’t cover the pot while simmering the sauce. Condensation will build up and the sauce will end up being watery instead of thick and creamy-like. It freezes well, and can also be used for homemade pizzas, or dip fresh bread in it.  Another note: if you don't have fresh tomatoes you can use can of crushed tomatoes.  It will work the same way, as the fresh ones.  I used to make this sauce with canned crushed tomatoes also.    

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 8.106 oz (229.8g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 176
Calories from Fat 92
Total Fat 10.2g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 617mg
Total Carbohydrates 18.2g
Dietary Fiber 7.0g
Sugars 12.0g
Protein 5.1g

 

It has been a long time since I published anything on my Greek Fusion Cuisine blog.  But it’s been a busy and yet wonderful summer.  Not that I didn’t cook or barbeque.  I did plenty of those.  But we had such wonderful weather, that I didn’t want to be inside in front of a computer.  And, truly, I haven’t forgotten you, dear followers. 

Our summer this year was amazing.  I don’t ever remember a summer in Michigan this beautiful since I moved here many years ago.  This year I was not able to go to Greece and enjoy the beautiful weather there.  But I think the Greek summer came here to visit me.  The weather was warm, it reached to 104 degrees (F)on some days, and the sky was clear and blue.  The only thing that I was missing in my back yard was the Mediterranean  Sea. 

This year my husband decided to plant a garden in our back yard.  We had an abundance of zucchinis, squashes, banana peppers, grape tomatoes and tomatoes.  He also planted some jalapeno peppers, which I don’t eat.  I find them too hot for me.  I was going to try to make a jalapeno dip with Greek yogurt, but it didn’t happen (stay tuned for that recipe; I’m sure I’m going to try to make it one of these days).  As you can see from the pictures the zucchinis grew quite large which I ended up making zucchini moussaka with them (that recipe on one of my next posts).  And as for the banana peppers I washed them, pricked them with a fork and barbequed them.  Then drizzled some olive oil and red wine vinegar on them and ate them as a side dish.  This type of dish is very common in Greece in the summer.  My mother used to fry them all the time.  This type of food was a staple on our table every Saturday during the summer months. 

For fruits we ended up eating plenty of strawberries and blueberries with which I made a mixed berry sauce that I used on top of ice cream or some plain Greek yogurt (I prefer the Fage yogurt).  The berry sauce stays well in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.  But it didn’t last that long in my household. 

Here is a first tease with the mixed berry sauce recipe to entice your appetite.  Stay tuned for more recipes.    

Our garden crop

 

 

Some funny shaped strawberries that I bought.


 

Mixed Berry Sauce

5 cups mixed berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)
 7 tbsp sugar

 Wash and clean the berries. In a deep saucepan, add the berries and the sugar. Turn the heat on. With a potato masher, mash the berries. Let the berries and sugar cook while stirring constantly with a spoon. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer while stirring constantly. Let it cook for another 15 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. If it doesn’t look that thick in the beginning, don’t worry. As you let it sit, and it cools it will thicken.  

Once cooled pour into jars and refrigerate. It will last up to 3 months. Use to top ice cream or plain yogurt, or use it as spread for toast. It goes quite well on French toast or use as a topping for cheese cake.   

Makes about 20 servings of 2 tbsp per serving 

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1.355 oz (38.4g)
 Amount Per Serving
 Calories 35
 Calories from Fat 1
 Total Fat 0.1g
 Saturated Fat 0.0g
 Trans Fat 0.0g
 Cholesterol 0mg
 Sodium 0mg
 Total Carbohydrates 8.7g
 Dietary Fiber 1.3g
 Sugars 6.9g
 Protein 0.2g
 Vitamin A 1%
 Vitamin C 13%
 Calcium 0%
Iron 1%