Autumnal food orgy

i love this time of year...it's my favorite season for cooking and baking. the past few days have been a bit of a food orgy, even more so than usual. it started off with an amazing dinner at abe & louie's with a big fat steak cooked rare and dirty martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives...yum.

the next day we headed to ipswich for what was probably the best clam chowder i have ever had paired with warm, sweet cornbread with big ol' corn kernels in the dough (stone soup bistro). we then drove down the street to russell orchards for apple cider donuts, mulled apple cider, pumpkin ice cream, the juiciest, most amazing apples, and pumpkin picking. i picked up a sugar pumpkin to add to a lentil soup i made for dinner the next day and a regular pumpkin for carving. unfortunately, my dog seems to think that the pumpkins are basketballs and is hell bent on destroying them.

here is the recipe for the lentil soup (approximations folks because i made it up as i went along). we ate this with a roasted rotisserie chicken from russo's. so good!

lentil soup

1/4 cup chorizo (diced)
1/4 cup pancetta (diced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion (diced)
1 carrot (diced)
1 roasted red pepper (diced)
2 celery stalks (you guessed it, diced)
1 small sugar pumpkin (peeled and diced)
1 cup of lentils
tons of chicken stock (6 -10 cups)
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of herbs de provence
pinch of aleppo pepper
pinch of hungarian paprika
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of whatever other spice your heart desires/you have on hand
handful of fresh spinach

in a large stock pot saute the chroizo and pancetta. remove from pot and drain on paper towels. add a tablespoon of olive oil and saute the onion, carrot, roasted red pepper, and celery until soft (about 10 minutes). add in the chorizo, pancetta, sugar pumpkin, lentils, and spices and enough chicken stock to make the soup to your desired consistency. cook until the pumpkin is soft about 20 - 30 minutes. the longer you can cook it the better...i got *distracted* and ended up cooking this for a couple of hours and it tasted even better. right before serving add in a handful of fresh spinach and cook it 2 to 3 minutes (until it wilts). effing yum.

that night we had dinner in rockport at my place by the sea. you.must.eat.here. grilled pears with montag cheese, delicious lobster bisque, epic apple and butternut squash soup, grilled scallops...seriously impressive restaurant on par with some of the best places in boston.

my culinary adventures continued the next day with breakfast. i made a sort of crustless quiche because i was craving protein after the epic carb fest the day prior. again, approximations kids...cooking is not an exact science :)

crustless quiche

4, 5 oz ceramic ramekins
nonstick cooking spray
4 eggs
1/2 package of frozen broccoli (diced)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup 0% greek yogurt
1 tbsp cream cheese
1 laughing cow cheese wedge
1 random swiss cheese slice i found in my fridge (diced)
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of hungarian paprika
kraft parmesan cheese (the crappy almost powdery kind...works for this though)

preheat oven to 425. spray the ramekins. beat the eggs together with the broccoli, cottage cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, laughing cow wedge, random cheese slice, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and paprika. fill the ramekins up to the top with the mixture and top with parmesan cheese. bake until cheese turns golden brown (about 10 minutes). matt damon said that this was his favorite breakfast so far...woah. *even better than scrambled eggs with cheese and chorizo?* i asked..*yes* said md.

breakfast the next day was pretty damn spectacular as well. matt damon and i feasted on coconut chocolate chip pancakes and thick cut bacon. the recipe is courtesy of soupbelly.com. i used ghirardelli chocolate chips..i think good chocolate makes all of the difference!

for dinner i was craving curry. i had lulu over for grilled chicken with garlic peanut sauce and butternut squash curry. the chicken was basically just chicken breasts marinaded in a stonewall kitchen sauce with some of my own additions (hungarian paprika, red pepper flakes, etc.). the butternut squash curry made lulu and i smell *terrific* for a couple of days, but it was worth it :)

butternut squash curry

1/2 small onion
2 inches of ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp fennel seeds
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
2 lbs butternut squash diced
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
handful of golden raisins
4 cups chicken stock

puree the onion, ginger, and garlic cloves. sautee in a pan with the olive oil. add all of the spices and saute some more. add in the butternut squash, crushed tomatoes, raisins, and chicken stock. cook for 20 minutes.

the next night matt damon was coming back from a business trip so i wanted to have a super special dinner waiting for him. i was craving figs and pizza so i invented this recipe:

fig, goat cheese, pancetta, and caramelized onion pizza

1/4 of pancetta (diced)
1 ball of pizza dough (i went to upper crust for mine, you can just get store bought crap {fail} or make your own {pass})
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp apricot preserves
1 tbsp ginger preserves
1/2 tbsp honey
1 small onion (sliced into rings)
1 carton of figs (sliced)
1/4 goat cheese crumbles
1 tbsp corn meal

preheat oven to 450. saute the pancetta and drain on paper towels. roll out the pizza dough and brush with the olive oil. saute the onions. add the balsamic, preserves, and honey and simmer until a thicker, more sauce-like consistency is achieved. place the figs on the pizza in a circular pattern. dot with the goat cheese crumbles and pancetta. drizzle the caramelized onion/balsamic reduction over the top. bake for 15-20 minutes.

i knew that pizza wouldn't be enough, and definitely needed some protein so i also made meatballs, sweet potatoes and grilled asparagus.

mushroom sage meatballs

1 small onion
couple of cloves of garlic
handful of parsley
piece of bread (i used a hamburger bun i found in my freezer, random, but it works)
1 lb hamburger meat (i used 85%...yummmm fat)
1 tbsp oregano
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of hungarian paprika
splash of egg beaters (or one lightly beaten egg)
stonewall kitchen mushroom sage sauce

in a food processor finely chop the onion, garlic, parsley, and bread (yes, i was being super lazy and just threw it all in together...didn't feel like chopping by hand/making bread crumbs separately). in a bowl combine the hamburger with the aforementioned food processor mixture, oregano, salt, pepper, paprika, and egg beaters. mix with your hands (don't over mix) and form meatballs. cook in a big saucepan until nice and brown on the outside. pour the stonewall sauce over the top and simmer for about 20 minutes. this turned out so damn good!

sweet potatoes with maple butter

2 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of maple syrup
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of herbs de provence
a couple of drops of hot sauce

cook the potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes. yes i said the microwave. they turn out awesome, trust me. in a microwave safe dish mix the rest of the ingredients. microwave for 30 seconds or until the butter melts. pour on top of the sweet potatoes. yummm

the grilled asparagus with just asparagus brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with with lemon pepper and shallot pepper seasonings from penzeys and a pinch of salt.

so there you have it kids...my autumnal food orgy of a weekend. i am trying to gain 10 lbs of mass so i am hoping that by eating tons (mostly healthy stuff of course) and by doing body part splits i will achieve this goal.

btw, my rachel mclish bodybuilding books arrived. the funniest reaction was from erin and i quote *i think that if you cover up a person's face you should still be able to tell if they are a man or a woman*. whatever, rachel's body is amazing!