One thing I am really loving about being back in Canada is the huge variety of Winter squashes which are available for cooking.
In the UK, we basically had one. Butternut Squash. Don't get me wrong, I adore Butternut Squash, but I also love other types of Winter squash, and its nice to have a variety to choose from!
Squash was not something which I really enjoyed when I was growing up. My mother only had one way of cooking it, boiling.
And, as they did in them there days, she boiled it to death. I think most vegetables had the life boiled out of them!
In any case, mom boiled the squash and I could take it or leave it. It was always too squishy and lacking in flavor. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Winter squash is one of those vegetables, however, whose flavor is greatly enhanced when you use other method to cook it. Like roasting for instance.
Roasting Winter squash really heightens the sweetness of them as well as the natural nuttiness. Well, most Winter squashes anyways.
Long about this time of year I start looking at contenders to serve as side dishes for my Thanksgiving feast. In Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which is a month earlier than they do in the United States.
I have my favorites, dishes that I do every year and always do the same, such as the swede, potatoes, carrots and stuffing. But sometimes I like to switch out the others a bit if I can.
My favorite way of roasting my turkey will always be my Herb Roasted Turkey, and that applies whether it is a breast/crown or the whole beast.
For me, turkey doesn't get much better than that, and the gravy that you end up with at the end is magnificent.
My favorite stuffing is Mary Berry's Sage & Onion Stuffing. Stuffing just could not be any more delicious than this one.
Its a beautiful mix of butter, herbs and bread, stuffing perfection. For me the best part of the meal is always the stuffing, and this one does not let you down. not ever!
All the other sides I like to play with a bit and love trying out new ways of preparing them. This recipe for Roasted Winter Squash with Garlic & Thyme comes from a cookery book by Diana Henry, entitled "Pure Simple Cooking."
It is filled with lots of lovely simple recipes for cooking everything from soup to nuts. This was one of the sides in the book and the photograph for it had me drooling.
I love dishes like this that use simple ingredients and very few of them. Things that most people have in their homes most of the time.
And this recipe does just that. Its simple and almost pure in what it requires and how it is cooked.
WHAT YOU NEED TO COOK ROASTED WINTER SQUASH WITH GARLIC & THYME
Other than the squash which you may have to go out and buy, you will probably have most everything else already in your kitchen.
- Winter Squash
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Thyme
- Garlic
- Seasoning
What I love most about roasting things like this is that you get all of that beautiful caramelization on the edges of the vegetables. Nutty and brown and slightly sticky.
HOW TO HANDLE WINTER SQUASH
The hardest part of this recipe is probably cutting the squash in half and scooping out the seeds. Some winter squashes can be extremely hard and difficult to cut in half. Here are some of my tips which will make that process a bit easier.
1. Use a large, sharp, heavy duty knife. This is no time to break out the paring knives. You want to bring out the big guns for this, and do make sure it is really sharp. A dull knife is a dangerous tool in the kitchen.
2. Trim off both ends of the squash first, the stem end and the root/blossom end. You are not going to be eating those parts, and trimming these off will give you a bit of stabilization. In other words, your squash should stay better in place while you are cutting with no rolling around.
3. Cut vertically through the squash. This just makes sense and allows for better shapes when it comes to portioning it than if you were to cut it horizontally. If your knife gets a bit stuck, use something to lightly hammer the back handle of the knife, like a mallet.
4. Peel with a knife and not a vegetable peeler. Using a paring knife gives you much better control. Squashes come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. For this recipe she left the skin on the squash for roasting, but I will tell you that when I make it again, I am definitely peeling it. Its a lot easier to eat with the peel already removed.
5. The easiest way to scoop out the stringy bits and seeds is with a melon baller. You could also use a grapefruit spoon. They just make a messy job a whole lot easier.
That is just a few tips to help make cutting your squash a tiny bit easier. Above all use caution! We don't want anyone slicing off their fingers!
You will need to cut your squash into 3/4 inch wide slices for this recipe. Diana did not peel her squash and neither did I, but if I made it again, it is important to note that I would peel it.
I found it quite difficult to remove the peels when eating it. At least they were with this particular squash.
Diana also thinly sliced peeled garlic and scattered it over the roasted squash wedges for the last 15 minutes of roasting. Personally, if I do this again, I am going to leave the garlic cloves whole and unpeeled.
I will give them a slight bashing to crack them, but I plan on putting them in with the squash right from the get go. That way you will end up with lovely roasted cloves of garlic, in which case you may even want to use more than six cloves.
Roasted garlic is beautifully mellow and not at all harsh. I could find nothing totally redeeming about thinly slicing it.
It was cooked, but there was none of that beautiful sticky mellowness that you get from roasting whole cloves. And if I am going to use that many cloves of garlic I would prefer it to be a bit more than a garnish that isn't even all that attractive.
Just a suggestion on my part.
In any case, with my suggested changes, this could very well be a contender for a side dish for my Thanksgiving feast. I will probably only have my daughter and son in law here, so not a huge crowd.
My first Thanksgiving on Canadian soil in over 20 years. If that isn't a cause for a celebration, and a great excuse to pull out all the stops, I don't know what is!
Roasted Squash with Garlic & Thyme
Yield: 6 as a side
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min
You want to use the sweeter varieties of squash for this recipe. Butternut, Buttercup, Kabucha. All work really well.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of winter squash (wash well)
- ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
- 2 TBS butter
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5.
- Halve the squash and scoop out the fibers and seeds in the middle. (you can save these, wash them off, dry and use them to plant more squash next year!)
- Cut the squash into ¾ inch slices (at the thickest part of each wedge).
- Place the butter and olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Pop into the oven and heat gently until the butter begins to foam. (about 5 minutes) Remove from the oven. Carefully add the squash slices, turning them to coat them in the butter/oil mixture. Pull the leaves from the thyme and scatter them over top, along with a goodly seasoning of salt and pepper.
- Return the squash to the oven and roast for a further 20 to 25 minutes, turning them every so often.
- Scatter the garlic slices over top and roast for a further 15 minutes until the squash pieces are soft and slightly caramelized.
I had a frozen pie crust that I wanted to use up so I thought I would bake another pie this weekend. I don't normally bake pies, two weeks in a row, but what the hey! You only live once.
When I checked my recipes I was really surprised that I had not already shared this delicious old fashioned butterscotch pie recipe with you!!
Prepare yourself for a lifelong love affair because I have been baking and loving this pie for about 45 years now! Its the best from scratch butterscotch pie you could ever want to treat yourself to! No fooling around.
The first year I was married to my second husband (the father of my children) my mother in law gifted me with a real treasure. A small handwritten notebook of my husband and his family's favorite recipes.
My ex-MIL was an excellent cook. She was an army wife, having lived all across Canada and in Europe. My FIL was a retired army cook, so you just know good cooking ran in the family.
This little notebook was filled with her tried and trues and it has been and is a real treasure to me. The pages are well splattered and tattered with use over the years, some of the writing is even fading.
I really need to copy everything in it out into another notebook so that I can have it saved for my children as it is a part of their heritage as well. These are the recipes they grew up enjoying as well.
My MIL is still going strong at 93. She still drives and everything. I really love (d) Elizabeth. I know people like to talk nasty about MIL's, but I had the best MIL ever. She was a real dear, very kind and long-suffering.
Back to the pie. This old fashioned butterscotch pie was my ex husband's favorite pie and dessert. In fact, every year he would request me to make one for his birthday rather than a cake.
I was quite happy to do so because . . . truth be told, it is a favorite of mine also.
There is nothing artificial here. Just good old fashioned simple ingredients put together in a simple way.
Seriously, you do not need to be a chef to make or bake this easy recipe. In fact if you use a frozen pie ready made pie shell (like I did today) it gets even easier!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH PIE FROM SCRATCH
There is nothing out of the ordinary here.
- 1 (9-inch) baked pie crust
- Light brown sugar
- Butter
- cake flour (or a mixture of all purpose flour and cornstarch)
- 2 large free range eggs
- Full fat milk
- Pinch of salt
- Vanilla extract
You can of course make your own pie crust from scratch. I normally make my Butter & Lard Pastry. Its the best, flakiest pastry. You can get to the recipe by clicking on the name.
It makes two single crusts or enough pastry for one two crust pie. It is sincerely one of the greatest pastry recipes ever.
The filling itself is a real doddle to make. You do need to use a double boiler for this, or at least a facsimile of one.
If you have a heat proof bowl, you can easily replicate a double boiler by setting the bowl on the rim of a saucepan over simmering water. Just make sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
HOW TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH PIE
You begin by mixing together all of the filling ingredients in the top of a double boiler. I do this by whisking together the brown sugar and flour/cornstarch mixture until they are well amalgamated, and then I whisk in the milk, salt and add the butter.
By the time you have done this any lumps in the brown sugar will be no more. This then needs to be cooked over simmering water, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
This is probably the most labor intensive part of the recipe. Standing there whisking. Don't stop whisking or you risk lumps in your filling.
Once it has bubbled and thickened you need to walk away for 20 minutes, returning periodically to give the filling another whisk. This is so that all of the flour flavor cooks out of the filling.
There is nothing nastier than a pie that tastes like flour. Blech.
Next you need to whisk in the egg yolks, but not before tempering them first. All tempering means is whisking some of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolk to heat them up a bit.
If you add cold eggs to a hot filling you end up with omelette. You don't want omelette. You want a smooth glossy filling.
So temper your egg yolks first. Just whisk the hot filling into them, a bit at a time. I would add at least 4 TBS of the hot mixture, one at a time, whisking constantly as you add each TBS.
Once you've done that you can whisk all of the egg mixture back into the hot filling and then it needs to cook for about 5 minutes longer so that the eggs are all cooked in the filling. You don't want to be feeding raw eggs to people, even if it is only the yolks.
Easy peasy. Your filling is pretty much done. Just remove it from the heat and let it cool to lukewarm, whereupon you can whisk in the vanilla extract. I always use pure vanilla extract.
You can now spread your filling into your baked crust and get on with making the meringue. Meringue is really easy to make as well.
You will use the whites from your eggs to make your meringue. You want to start with a clean, grease free glass bowl and, using an electric hand whisk, start whisking your whites on high
Once they are foamy, you can continue to whisk them, adding the sugar a bit at a time until you have a really thick, satiny mixture, that is somewhat glossy.
It should stand up in peaks when you lift the beaters out of it. Spread this over your pie. I tend to place more in the center of the pie than I do on the edges, although you do want all of the filling covered.
I just dollop it all over the pie and spread it out with the back of a metal spoon, making peaks here and there like little snowy mountain tops. Make sure it touches the crust of the pie all the way around That way you know your filling is absolutely covered.
Then you just pop the whole thing into a moderate oven (350*F/180*C) and brown the meringue. It doesn't take long, about 10 minutes and it will be perfect.
Seriously the most difficult part of making this pie is waiting for everything to cool down enough that you can cut into it. As you can see I have a problem with that. I can never wait quite long enough to dig in.
Ideally you should leave it for several hours. But that is in a perfect world full of people who are not gluttons and who have plenty of patience.
That is not me! Anyways, I really hope that you will be inspired to want to make this delicious pie and that if you do, you will agree with me in thinking that it is just the best Butterscotch Pie ever!
Butterscotch Pie
Yield: 8
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 45 Min
This is probably the best from-scratch butterscotch pie you will ever make. I stake my reputation on it. You will need a double boiler, or a bowl set in a saucepan over simmering water to make the filling.
Ingredients
For the Pie and filling:
- 1 (9-inch) baked pie shell
- 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 5 TBS flour
- 1 TBS cornstarch (cornflour)
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 cup (240ml) full fat milk
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the meringue:
- 2 large free range egg whites
- 2 TBS fine granulated sugar
Instructions
- Place the flour, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in the top part of a double boiler. Mix all together well. Stir in the milk and add the butter. (Alternately you can do this in a heat proof bowl which you can set in a saucepan over simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.)
- Place over simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. Continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
- Beat your egg yolks. Temper them with a bit of the hot pie mixture, by adding some to the yolks a bit at a time, whisking it in. Whisk the tempered mixture back into the hot mixture, combining well. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Whisk in the vanilla, and then spoon the mixture into your baked crust. It will be thick, smooth and delicious.
- Beat the egg whites until they start to get really frothy. Beat on high adding the sugar in a slow stream. Continue to beat until the mixture doubles in volume and is thick and glossy and stands up in peaks.
- Spoon and spread this over the cooled pie covering the filling completely. It should read the crust edge all around. Make some decorative swirls on top.
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and slid it into the oven. Bake until the meringue is golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Allow the pie to cool completely before serving. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
All of the content you see here on this page, both photography and written, are the sole property of The English Kitchen, Marie Rayner. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Normally I wouldn't share two cakes in a row on here. I hope you will forgive me. The Pumpkin cake was actually baked last week and I was only just getting around to sharing it. This lovely Old Fashioned Gingerbread was something I baked today.
And it is so fabulous, I just couldn't wait to share it. The smell alone will send you into heavenly bliss! Trust me on this!
If this is not the BEST old fashioned gingerbread recipe, I will eat my hat. (Hard to do since I don't own a hat!) But trust me when I say, its pretty darned tasty!
The recipe comes from a book which was a gift to me from a friend. Back to the Basics, by Ina Garten. She came by way of it via James Beard. Both cooks/bakers have excellent reputations and so you just know it really is the BEST of the best!
Just like my friend, Diana. Diana and I have never met in person. We only know each other through blogging and via Instagram and on Facebook. That is the power of the modern day Internet.
It may have a dark side, but the bright side is pretty wonderful. I have made many beautiful and special friends via this medium, and Diana is one of them. She has been very good to me.
Let us talk about the kindness of others. It is hard to believe that in just about a month and a half now, it will have been a year since I made that precarious journey across the Atlantic ocean back to Canada, leaving everything I owned behind.
I shake my head in amazement at how far I have come. I am here now, comfortable in my own little home and I am well settled. This is largely due to my own strength and determination and the many kindnesses of others.
People who, like Diana, lifted me up in prayer daily and who supported me emotionally in any way that they could, lending me a portion of their strength.
People who, like Diana, went even further, donating goods etc. to help me set myself back up again. The many kindnesses and generosity I have been privy to has been incredibly humbling and I am so grateful for it.
It takes a village. I have heard that expression many times, and this time I was priviledged and honored to have been on the receiving end of that communal village, which extended way beyond the boundaries of my own town, but world wide.
I will forever be grateful for all of the help I received. The prayers. The love. The support. As bad as many things in the world might seem, there is so much more that is good.
The fact that, in the midst of a Global Pandemic, when so many were hurting themselves, others reached out to me in this phenomenal way is proof that we really live in a world filled with good and caring people.
I had never thought I would need such help, but it ended up that I did, and I hope that one day I will be in the position to do a like kindness for another in need.
Diana recently said that she had a number of cookery books that she didn't need and did I want them. She would send them to me one at a time. This book was one of them. How could she have known that it was a copy of one of the many books I had to leave behind. God is good. Thank you so much Diana.
So I hope you will all forgive me for sharing a cake for the second day in a row. I think when you smell this baking you will more than forgive me. It smells AMAZING!
It tastes pretty darn amazing also! Its lovely. I actually only used 1/3 of the baking powder that I should have used. The recipe called for 3/4 tsp and I used 1/4 tsp. DUH!
That it turned out to be edible at all is nothing short of a miracle. Its very, very good, and you can know that if you make it, it will be even better.
Because you are going to add the right amount of baking powder, lol.
This has a beautiful flavor. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves and orange zest . . . perfect warm baking spices. Perfect Autumn flavors.
The crumb is moist and delicious from the use of sour cream. It uses plenty of molasses, which lends a lovely smoky sweetness.
The cake itself is studded with rum infused raisins. I don't have any rum, so I used boiling water and rum flavoring.
The raisins are plump and sweet and delicious.
It also has a goodly amount of minced crystalized gingerroot stirred throughout, adding even more ginger flavor and sweetness.
I love candied gingerroot. Quite often if i have an upset stomach I will chew on a piece of it. Ginger is quite simply one of my favorite things.
The crowning glory of this cake is the lovely orange glaze. It is simply wonderful cut into squares and served as a special dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I really hope that you will bake it and see for yourself just how special it is!
And Diana, thank you! 💖 This was a lovely surprise.
All of the content you see here on this page, both photography and written, are the sole property of The English Kitchen, Marie Rayner. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Old Fashioned Gingerbread
Yield: 9
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 50 Min
A sweet, spicy, and sturdy cake, with lots of molasses, raisins and chopped candied ginger. This delicious cake is topped with a sweet orange glaze. The smell when it is baking is amazing!
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- ¼ cup (60ml) boiling water
- ½ tsp rum extract
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- ½ cup (75g) raisins
- 1 cup (240ml) molasses
- 1 cup (120g) sour cream
- 1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh orange zest
- 2 1/3 cup (325g)of plain all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (80g) minced crystalized ginger (not the one in syrup)
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- 2 TBS fresh orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch square baking tin and then line with baking paper, leaving an overhang to lift the cake out with.
- Place the raisins in a small bowl with the rum extract. Pour the boiling water over top and set aside.
- Place the butter and molasses in a large bowl. Pop into the microwave for 1 minute on high. The butter should be melted. Whisk in the sour cream an orange zest.
- Sift together the flour, soda, spices, and salt. Mix into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon, stirring together only until the mixture is smooth.
- Drain the raisins. Fold them, along with the candied ginger into the batter, then scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top over.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift out on a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze, which together the icing sugar and orange juice until smooth. Pour over the gingerbread, allowing it to drip down the sides. Leave to set (if you can!) before cutting into 9 squares to serve.
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