An eventful Sunday

For a while I was so busy/tired I didn't go out and do much of anything on the weekends, but that seems to be changing. I visited the San Jose Museum of Art today with a friend, and afterwards we got gourmet french fries from the Little Chef Counter. I got poutine again... this time, with shredded braised short ribs. Delicious, as expected. I've gone to the farmer's market in Mountain View two weekends in a row, and they have just as much of an abundance of produce as they did in the summer. It's really remarkable. Last time I got kale, some kohlrabi, a butternut squash, a variety of apples, a pomegranate, some tangerines, some grapefruit and some daikon. Today, I got more grapefruit, some blood oranges, another pomegranate, a couple Asian pears, some more apples, some carrots, some yellow onions, some green grapes, and a head of cauliflower. It's so fun to just browse the aisles, try the samples, and decide what new and interesting thing to get each week.

I couldn't decide what to do with my butternut squash at first. Make a soup? Maybe. Make some fritters? Tempting. Fry it up in chunks and add it in with some kale and melted Monterey Jack cheese for quesadillas a la The Pioneer Woman? I thought about that too. In the end, though, I turned to my Smitten Kitchen cookbook by Deb Perelman, one of my very favorite bloggers, and made her butternut squash and caramelized onion galette.

I knew it would take a while to make-- from making the dough, to peeling and chopping the squash, to roasting the squash in the oven, to grating the cheese (Fontina cheese, which I actually kind of had to search around for to find, but it was worth the effort), to caramelizing the onions with butter, olive oil, and a little sugar and cayenne pepper, but it didn't take quite as long as I thought it would. It actually probably takes longer to make a nice, quality quiche. More vegetables to chop.

Anyway, this dish was fantastic. I was surprised how big it came out, but it'll be great to take to work for lunches, perhaps with some kale salad. Super healthy, to be sure.

Mine came out almost exactly like the one in the book. I just forgot to get some fresh thyme to sprinkle on top, but I used dried rosemary instead. I can see myself making more variations of the galette in the future, or other savory tarts. I used to be so intimidated by making crust from scratch but it's actually really easy, even without a pastry blender or a food processor.

It's great to feel inspired to actually bake/cook dishes that take some time and effort. At some point I'd really like to make Boeuf Bourguignon.. also involving a lot of steps and preparation, but I know the amazing flavor would be worth it in the end.

Hope my readers had a nice weekend too! :)