Recipe Review from 10/21/2019

I thought I had good luck with Cooking Light recipes, but now that I've been getting the Eating Well magazine, wow. So many incredibly good meals and I've been so satisfied with the results. Granted, I've had several "Meh" recipes too, either my fault or just a poor recipe, but overall, I'm quite pleased and I think I'll get a subscription.

The Meal Plan:
Sat - Lunch with Friend; Supper with family
Sun - leftover Zen House; leftover pasta
Mon (yoga) leftover pasta
Tues - pancakes
Wed - Baked Saffron Rice
Thurs (yoga) leftover rice
Fri - Pizza

Lunches - leftover Indian; Minestrone soup

Winter Minestrone Soup (Eating Well online) vegetarian option
This wasn't from the magazine, I found it online. I was searching for a dish that used sausage and butternut squash. I have something like 20 lbs of butnut in my basement right now. The kicker? That's four squash! I'll be freezing some when I have the time to chop.

I didn't use sausage links for below as I had a partial package of ground in the fridge. I used cannelli beans instead of kidney (not my favorite), I spaced I needed fennel so I subbed baby carrots, and I skipped the white wine as I didn't want to open a bottle and have it sit in the fridge until the weekend. Overall, pretty decent if not a bit bland. 

photo from eatingwell.com

1 pound uncooked Italian or pork sausage links, cut into ¾-inch slices
2½ cups peeled winter squash, such as butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
1½ cups cubed potatoes
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
(I used cannelli beans)
½ teaspoon dried sage, crushed
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chopped kale or fresh spinach


In a large skillet, cook the sausage until browned; drain well.

In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, place squash, potatoes, fennel, onion, garlic, beans and sage. Top with sausage. Pour broth and wine over all. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours.

Stir in kale (or spinach). Cover and cook 5 minutes more.

Baked Saffron Rice (Jamie Oliver 5 Ingredient Meals)
Okay, true to the episode, this is fast and easy.  That being said, I did have some hiccups.  My printout of the recipe cut off part of the directions so I had to extrapolate a bit.   I don't have a stove-top safe roasting tray, so I used a 12" oven-safe skillet.  I think I was a little overzealous with my 4 tbsp of tomato paste, because end result was a little tomato-y.   I also should have covered the pan for the first 10 minutes of cooking - while the bottom was perfectly cooked, the top was definitely underdone. I'm for "crunchy", but I do like my rice cooked.

Would I make this again? ...maybe.  On the fence.  

photo from jamieoliver.com

2 red onions
2 small pinches of saffron
4 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt
4 tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste
.66lbs (300g) white basmati rice
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF

2. Peel and finely chop the red onions.

3. Place a 11"x 7" (25cm x 30cm) roasting tray on (medium-high) heat on the hob, pour in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add the onions and fry for 4 minutes, or until soft and sweet, stirring regularly.

4. Meanwhile, place half the saffron in 2.5 cup (600ml) of boiling kettle water. In a bowl, cover the remaining saffron with 1 tablespoon of boiling water, steep for 10 seconds, then mix with the yoghurt and put aside.

5. Stir the tomato paste, rice and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper into the onion tray, then pour in the saffron water and bring to the boil.

6. Once boiling, carefully transfer to the oven for 15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid, fluffed up beautifully and is golden and crisp on top.

7. Spoon the saffron yoghurt over the rice, drizzle it all with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, fork and mix it all together, and dish up.