Butternut Squash Muffins

[Sorry, no photos. Can't find the damn camera cable. #oldtechnology]

I had some butternut squash puree left over from earlier in the week when I'd roasted one for a pasta dish, and remembered that you can add pretty much any "wet" ingredient in place of the milk in a standard muffin recipe. I checked out the Flavor Bible for thoughts on what spices would pair well with squash and also suit a sweet, rather than savory preparation. Starting with Mark Bittman's basic muffin recipe in How to Cook Everything, I added the squash i had (in my case, 3/4 cup, but you could substitute more for all the milk if you have it) and brought it to a full cup with milk -- it turned out to be a bit too dry, so I added another 1/4 cup milk to get it to a thick but pourable muffin batter consistency.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cloves, ground
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp oil or melted butter
3/4 cup butternut squash puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4-1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare muffin pan with spray oil.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, brown sugar and spices) in a large bowl.

Mix egg, oil, squash, maple syrup and 1/4 cup milk in another bowl, pour into dry ingredients and stir to combine. Depending on how watery your squash is, you may need to add additional milk to make it the right consistency. It should still be thick but should pour.

Pour or scoop into muffin cups to about 3/4 full. I made 6 regular muffins and 12 mini muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, but check often -- mine were done rather quickly.

These muffins puffed up right away and were slightly dense and moist, nice with butter or without. The mini muffins are perfect for my little ones, since it's just big enough to take two bites, leaving less chance for crumbs to wind up everywhere as happens with 3 year olds and full-size muffins.

This recipe could be easily adapted to use other fruit or vegetable purees. Next I plan to make sweet potato muffins with lots of cinnamon, inspired by the Jeni's ice cream flavor.

Cheating on seasonal: roasted-tomato fennel pasta

In the dark days of winter, when pretty much nothing but apples and greenhouse tomatoes show up at the market, I think we can all be forgiven if we have to cheat a little bit.

Tonight, we were confronted with no fresh meat and only some leftover grape tomatoes and fennel in the crisper drawer that we'd intended to use over the weekend. I also remembered there were some homemade pork sausage links in the freezer. Believe it or not, this was basically all I needed to put together a really tasty dinner.

Roasted Tomato and Fennel Pasta with Homemade Sausage - serves 2

about 1/4 box of dry pasta (rotini in this case)

half pint of grape tomatoes

half a fennel bulb

one pork sausage link

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 clove garlic

olive oil

salt + pepper

Trim the outer portions and the stemmy part of the fennel, and slice into half-moon shapes. Toss with tomatoes, some olive oil, salt and pepper in a roasting pan and cook for 20 minutes until everything starts to brown.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in generously salted water, according to package directions, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid.

While pasta is boiling and veggies are roasting, take the sausage out of the casing and cook, crumbing in oil until browned. Drain on paper towels and add minced garlic to pan and cook 30 seconds or until fragrant (longer and it will burn). Add roasted vegetables to pan, followed by 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water. Simmer for a couple of minutes, scraping any browned bits up from the pan. When pasta is ready, drain and add to pan. Add another 1/2 cup of cooking liquid if the earlier addition has cooked down significantly. Add parmesan, stir and serve immediately. The cheese will thicken the cooking liquid, which, seasoned with the vegetables, coats the pasta with a nice, creamy sauce.