Butternut Squash Mac&Cheese

Every year the students of the Culinary Science Club volunteer their time to help at the Beer, Wine, and Food Expo at HyVee Hall in Des Moines.  In return for our help we get a free glass for tasting all the  alcohol we want to try.  It is a wonderful thing.

Me and my friends: Lauren, Krissy, and Celia at the Expo

Krissy and I got to spend our time volunteering at the Local Stage, where Kristin, a food, exercise, and travel blogger from IowaGirlEats.com  was presenting about Butternut Squash Gnocchi and paired it with a beer sauce.  It was incredible.  If you scroll to the bottom of this post you can see Krissy and I looking sharp in our Chef coats in the background.  For the most part we just stood there being in awe and excitement about getting to be around a beloved blogger...and the gnocchi, but sometimes we helped pass out samples.

After this event I have been constantly on IowaGirlEats.com getting tons of inspiration from her recipes.  One that caught my eye was Butternut Squash Mac&Cheese.  I've made pumpkin Mac&Cheese before, but with canned pumpkin, this Mac&Cheese was made with a fresh squash and retained some of the texture in the final product.  Sounds Good!!

This is my version:

Check out that beautiful 9x13" pan!  I got it for my birthday from a good friend and it is changing my life!

Look at all those chunks of butternut squash!!  DELISH!!

Butternut Squash Mac&Cheese

3 cups milk (because I'm lactose intolerant I made this with unsweetened almond milk, but whatever milk you have on hand is fine)

2 cups diced onion (I LOVE onion, so I used 2 cups, I won't be offended if you use less, but even with 2 cups, the onion flavor by no means overpowers the squash and cheese)

5 cups finely chopped butternut squash (about a 1.5# squash, peeled and deseeded will yield 5 cups)

8 oz. whole wheat pasta (about 2/3 of a 13.25 oz. box), boiled in water for only 8 minutes

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt (Lawry's)

1/2 teaspoon salt free seasoning (Mrs. Dash)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves

2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 cup water

8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar

8 oz. shredded pepper jack

Preheat oven to 400F and grease a 9x13", pour pasta (that has been boiled for 8 minutes) into the pan.  

In a large saucepan, preferably nonstick, bring milk, onions, and butternut squash to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until squash is tender.  Use a potato masher to break down squash as much as you want.  

In a small plastic container add seasoning salt, salt free seasoning, garlic powder, thyme, flour, and water.  Close lid tightly and shake container until no flour clumps remain.  Stream flour slurry into milk, stirring constantly.  Stir and simmer for 2-5 minutes more or until sauce is thickened.  Stir in 6 oz. of each cheese and mix until cheese is melted.  

Pour the sauce over the noodles in the pan and stir gently to combine.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and the cheese is starting to brown.

Beef Shoulder Tenders

My good friend Krissy had an internship with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association this past summer and learned all kinds of wonderful things about beef.  When school started up again this fall Krissy paired up with Nancy Degner, Executive Director of the Iowa Beef Industry Council, to make a presentation for the Culinary Science Club about Umami, the 5th basic taste: savory. They gave us samples  of beef with sauces such as red wine mushroom and a balsamic reduction, which are all fully of the savory, brothy, and meaty flavors that are Umami.  But this beef was like nothing I had had before.  It was tender and flavorful and not over cooked, it was utterly divine.  It was a shoulder tender, also know as a shoulder petite tender.

Shoulder tenders are from, quite obviously, the shoulder, or the chuck.   Cuts from the chuck are not known for their tenderness, and need low, slow cooking melt the collagen between all the individual muscles that make up a shoulder blade steak or pot roast. Well the shoulder tender is just one muscle, teres major, that has some marbling and no collagen, so it is as tender as a Filet Mignon, without being so expensive.  The shoulder tenders are usually 7-10 oz. a piece and cost 5.99-6.99/pound. This cut is relatively new on the market, because it takes a lot of skill and know how to extract the teres major from the other muscles in the chuck (I could name all these muscles, because I am currently in the class Foods of Animal Origins where we have to memorize almost all the muscles in all food animals, but I won't bore you with that).  I can only get shoulder tenders at Fareway, a grocery store with knowledgeable butchers.  So if you can't find them in the meat case at your grocery store just ask one of the friendly meat department staff and they can probably order you some.

After Krissy and Nancy introduced me to shoulder tenders I have been obsessed.  They are simple to prepare and positively delicious.  I couldn't wait for my brother to come home for Thanksgiving so I could make them for him.  And boy did he love it.

This is how I prepare shoulder tenders:

2 shoulder tenders (about 1.5#)
2 teaspoons Lawry's Seasoning Salt
1 teaspoon course ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 450F.  Liberally season all sides of shoulder tenders with seasoning salt and pepper. Melt butter in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add oil.  Place shoulder tenders in skillet and turn heat up to high.  Sear tenders on all sides, until dark golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.  Place skillet in oven and cook for 10-20 minutes depending on how done you want the tenders.  When desired doneness is reached (at least 145F) remove from the oven and place tenders on a cutting board and tent with foil (while they are resting the temp will rise ~5 degrees, just keep that in mind).   Add the onions to the skillet (don't drain the skillet!) and cook, stirring often, until onions are softened and browned, about 10 minutes.  When the onions are done, slice the tenders 1/2" thick and serve with onions.

Baked potato and homemade Apple Nut Rolls: optional.  Impressing whomever you make shoulder tenders for: inevitable.

Apple Nut Rolls

I love the holidays because I get to spend all day in the kitchen using pounds of butter and no one can give me the stink eye about it, because cooking with Paula Deen amounts of butter is what you're supposed to do during the holidays.

Apple Nut Rolls are my mom's go to yeast roll recipe, and for good reason, they are fabulous. She got the recipe from her college roommate's mother, Mrs. Zorn, who made them all the time, much to the delight of her family and friends.

For Thanksgiving tomorrow my family is heading to my Grandparents' in Ames, and my grandma put me in charge of the cranberry sauce, rolls, and a pie.  I was going to make a pie with tofu in it, but Fareway didn't have any tofu and I wasn't going to make a trip to HyVee just for tofu, so I ended up making a peanut butter pie with cream cheese instead.  Although Iowa is the leading producer of soybeans, we sure don't seem to be very hip on tofu. Bummer.

If you know me at all, you know I don't like to follow recipes...they are merely for inspiration.  So when making the rolls today I just made it up: some milk, yeast, sugar, salt, and flour.  Well I used too much whole wheat flour, evidenced by the picture below.  The rolls barely rose at all.  Bah humbug.  They still taste good (probably due to the inordinate amount of butter I brushed on them before baking) so I'll bring them to Thanksgiving tomorrow anyway, but I wanted my family to have quality rolls too, so I begrudgingly went to my mom's recipe box and pulled out the recipe for Apple Nut Rolls.

Mrs. Zorn's rolls always come out a little crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  Applesauce gives them the perfect sweetness and walnuts add an interesting crunch, not to mention how beautiful they are, as evidenced by the picture below.

Apple Nut Rolls

by Mrs. Zorn

1 packet (2.25 teaspoons) rapid rise yeast

3/4 cup milk, scalded

1/4 cup water

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

1 egg

1.5 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

4-5 cups flour

Whisk together yeast, milk, water, applesauce, sugar, butter, egg, and salt.  Stir in walnuts and flour by the cupful until a dough forms.  Pour onto your clean counter and knead in remaining flour until dough is firm and no longer stiff (knead at least 10 minutes).  Let rise in a greased bowl, covered with a tea towel until doubled in size, about an hour.

Punch down dough, and form into 20 rolls, place in a greased pan, cover with tea towel and let raise for 30 minutes more.  Bake at 375F for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top.