Butter Paneer

Okay, so maybe I just lightly complained about rich, buttery Indian food that has more to do with tourist restaurants than true, authentic Indian dishes. But you really can't argue with butter paneer (more commonly called tikka masala here, since most things with butter in the title set off alarm bells for Westerners).

Again, VahRehVah comes through with another great recipe. While they use chicken in their preparation, it's a simple matter to substitute paneer instead. For my dish I simple cubed the paneer and added it at the end of the dish.

When they say "butter paneer", there really sure be an emphasis on butter. This recipe calls for 100 grams of it. If, like me, grams means little to you, here's a helpful way to think about it. Take a stick of butter and cut about a half-inch knob off on of the ends. Now put that knob back in the refrigerator and add the rest of the stick to the pan. Oh, and it also has about half a cup of cream in it as well. Also, ketchup. But you know what? It tastes pretty good, so I really can't fault it.

Brown Butter Cabbage

A lot of vegetables looks amazing when fresh and sitting in front of you, but savoy cabbage is good enough for a photo shoot. As we've been eating seasonally, two things have become apparent. First, we need to move to California. Second, cabbage and all its variants must have been in a love/hate relationship with pre-Industrial era societies.

One thing that certainly helps is butter. Cabbage, when shredded and cooked very lightly, actually has a nice crunch and flavor to it. This is one of my favorite preparations (and best of all, it's simple). From "Good Eats with Alton Brown: Veggie Eats 2"

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  
• 1/2 cup pulverized croutons (you'll want them seasoned, not bread crumbs)
  
• 2 pinches dry mustard
  
• 1 tspn caraway seeds
  
• 1 tbspn kosher salt
  
• 1 tbspn sugar
  
• 1 small head cabbage, shredded
  

Get some water on the boil for the cabbage. You'll be adding the sugar and salt to it just before cooking off the cabbage.

Before that, melt the butter and add the croutons. Throw in the caraway seeds and the mustard, then let this cook over medium heat until it's browned and nutty smelling. Remove from the heat but keep it in its cooking pan.

Now boil the shredded cabbage for two minutes before draining it and drying it (via spinning). Then combine it with the butter.

The croutons add a nice crunchy texture and the butter and caraway give some depth.

And this is just food porn (also from the same vendor).

Kabocha Puree with Brown Butter Sage

We've had a large kabocha squash sitting around on the kitchen counter for weeks now. We found it at a farmers' market and after trying some freshly cooked samples, decided to give it a try. Unlike a lot of squash, this one's skin can be eaten as is.

By committee, my wife and I decided to make a puree. Instead of going to read up on it, I've done what I've started to do quite regularly in the kitchen now -- wing it.

Starting with two cups of vegetable stock, I added the squash (which had been covered in foil and roasted/steamed in an oven at 350 degrees until somewhat tender) and basically poached it until the stock had reduced and the squash had started to fall apart with tenderness.

At that point, I used an immersion blender to puree it, then passed it through a sieve to remove the fibrous tissues and come out with a nice texture. Two cups of stock was probably too much, so you might try just one instead.

To finish it off, I cut chiffonades of sage and added them to butter. Over medium-low heat I browned the butter and fried up the sage. Drizzling that over the top added a great bit of texture and flavor from the crispy sage leaves.