Squid Ink Couscous

Nothing says adult spooky like cooking with squid ink! This dish will impress all of your fancy grown up friends out there, and is great for Halloween dinner parties. We have made for you squid ink couscous, topped with Andouille sausage, oven roasted acorn squash, and dehydrated kale! Enjoy!

Ingredients: serves 4

3 cups pearl couscous
4 teaspoons squid ink
½ yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 acorn squash
4 pre-cooked Andouille sausages
2 large leaves kale
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
kosher salt

I always like starting by preparing the items that top the dish, so that I can have that out of the way and cooked.

Preheat oven to 400. Cut acorn squash in half, then into 1 inch thick slices. Using a knife, remove skin, cube, toss in oil, place on baking sheet, then sprinkle with garlic salt. Cook squash for about 30 minutes, rotating half way through.

Reduce heat to 275. Tear kale up into small pieces, discarding the stem, and placing on a baking sheet.   Cook kale for 15 minutes.

Since the sausage is already cooked, simply cut on a diagonal and cook at medium high until you get a slight sear. This will also bring out the spiciness of the meat.

Set all of this aside so we can now make our couscous. Melt butter in a large non stick sauce pan on medium high heat. While that is melting mince up garlic and onion. Cook onion and garlic in butter until onion softens and becomes semi translucent. Add 4 ½ cups of water to onion and garlic and bring to a boil. Add squid ink and make sure that it completely dissolves before adding the couscous. Bring the water back to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the couscous is done, fluff it with a fork. Serve in a dish, pinch salt to your taste, top with squash, then sausage, then add the kale at the very end.

Boo!!!

 

Vegetable Bone Pocket

Welcome to the boneyard!! These vegetable pockets are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, standing on your head, dancing in the halls…whatever your heart desires. What is even better about these is that they are super easy to put together, a great last minute Halloween party item. To make it even easier we used premade pizza dough as the crust, and there is nothing wrong with that! Sometimes you just need a little cheat to make things go easier.

Enjoy your meal, bonedaddy!

Ingredients: depending on size makes about 5-6

4 Pillsbury pizza doughs (it is super easy, and can just roll right out)
3 large leaves kale
1 medium leek
1 /2 cup shredded Brussel sprouts
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 cups cubed pepper jack cheese
Pinch of flour

Start by chopping up all of your vegetables. Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium high heat, and place vegetables in. Sprinkle salt on top, and sauté until slightly cooked, about 6 minutes.

Next preheat oven to 425. While preheating start rolling out your dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out one at a time so it doesn’t get cray in your work area. Once you roll out the dough, cut shapes of bones that are about 8 inches long, and 3 inches wide. Place vegetable mix on the dough, making sure that you don’t get too much towards the edges of your bone shape because the oil will make it tough to close all the way. Top with cheese and place another bone cut out on top.

Once you have filled all of your bones, use a fork to pinch the sides down to close all the way.

Place in oven and cook for 14 minutes, or until golden brown, turning half way through!

Enjoy!

 

Winter Pasta!

Christmas is right around the corner, the temperatures are dropping a bit, life is getting bit more hectic. We have a created a simple yet delicious kale, mushroom, and sausage pasta with a noisette sauce. This is a dish you can throw together at the last minute and satisfy a family!

*We used Casarecce pasta, it holds flavor nicely, but go ahead and used whatever kind you want!

Ingredients: serves 4

1 box casarecce pasta
2 heads kale
2 cups oyster mushrooms
4 Italian sausages
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons ponzu
1 Tablespoon oil
A few inches of Salt

Start by cleaning and slicing both kale and your mushrooms separately. In a large sauté pan heat up your oil on medium high heat, and put all of your kale in. Using tongs, turn the kale so it evenly cooks for the first few minutes. Add the ponzu and let the kale cook down, turning every 5 minutes for about 25 minutes.  Once the 25 minutes are up, add the mushrooms. Let cook an additional 10 minutes, turning every few minutes. Remove from pan, and set aside.

Depending on what kind of sausage you purchase, some are cooked first, others are raw; if cooked slice and brown. If not, poke small holes, cook all the way through, and then slice. Set aside.

Fill a pot with water and a pinch of salt. Once water has boiled add pasta and cook until just al dente about 9 minutes.

Cube your butter, and melt it in the same sauté pan as you cooked your kale on a medium heat. Cook until the butter becomes a light golden color, add a pinch of salt. When butter becomes the color, it becomes almost nutty and very delicious.

Once pasta is cooked, drain, and place into butter, and make sure all the pasta gets coated in butter. Next add kale, mushrooms, and sausage, and toss together! Sprinkle with extra salt to your taste!

Enjoy!