Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Sugared Walnuts*

I love winter squash.  Especially butternut squash.  I think the first time I had butternut squash was when I was visiting home during my sophomore year of college and went to the Seattle Asian Art Museum with my mom one weekday.  We stopped at a cafe for lunch and I had the butternut squash soup and I was hooked.  Fall is my favorite season, and the first thing I associate fall with is...you guessed it...butternut squash. So when I went home in October, I found the perfect recipe to try.  Yeah, yeah, the post is really late.  But I think you can still get butternut squash in some places! 

Carmelized Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta

Normally I just steam brussels sprouts and eat them leaf by leaf.  So I figured my recipe needed to be, um, real fancy (huh), for Thanksgiving.  Of course anything with pancetta is immediately salivating, and when you throw in some shallots on top of that, well...hom nom nom!

Adventures in Doughnut Making

Doughnuts are a LOT harder to make at home than you think.  Or, than Lara Ferroni makes you think.  Yeast, proofing, waiting for the dough to rise.  You'd be lucky to have one by 3pm if you start at 11am. Okay...maybe that is an exaggeration, because my sis and I are doughnut novices.  But that didn't get us down!

Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin pie is synonymous with Thanksgiving.  I mean, who doesn't like pumpkin pie? Cough...cough...my sister doesn't think she likes pumpkin pie, but really, she does.  She hasn't had a good one yet, I think. 

I was shopping in SoHo and stopped in the Vesuvio bakery for a latte.  I saw a GINORMOUS pumpkin pie and immediately knew this was the recipe I had to try for our Thanksgiving dinner.  The spectacular thing about this pie is that its crust was HUGE.  I'm talking like more than 2" tall, not small like the kind you find at your local Safeway or Whole Foods, or even your basic pumpkin pie recipe.  I asked the barista where the pumpkin pie came from, and she told me it was baked fresh at City Bakery.

Diwali Party!

While baking up a storm for dessert fest, we discussed doing an Indian food night.  Well, it started with "can you bring Indian food tomorrow before the party?"...um, no, but, I'd be happy to do a post-dessert party wrap up feast!  And...Diwali was soon approaching!  So the DESSERT FEST 2010! chefs decided that an Indian dinner night was in order!

Deep Dish Pissha (Pizza)

I was flipping through Marisa’s old cooking light magazines one evening while watching Monsters Inside of Me and The Cooking Channel and I was really craving pizza. Lo and behold – a deep dish pepperoni pizza recipe appeared before me!

When I was attending training for my old job, we were based in Chicago for 2 weeks. Here my main goal was to eat as many deep dish pizzas as I could possibly fit in my stomach. One day I got so excited about the thought of eating my first authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza, I referred to it as “deep dish pissha”.

On that note, with the glossy magazine photos of melted cheese in a golden crust in front of me, I had two options: 1) go to south street seaport and have one at Uno’s or 2) save the recipe to make when I went home for a week. I decided it would be well worth the wait to have some home-made pizza, so I opted for #2.

Champagne Jello Shots and Jigglers

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  More so than Thanksgiving (yes, shocking, considering it is food-centric and all you do is eat and spend time with family).  I don't know why I love Halloween so much.  Maybe because I still love dressing up.  Sanjay, Shrenik and I brainstorm costumes 364 days in advance (well, this year, even 366 days in advance as we were already planning for next year this Halloween).  Maybe because I love candy.  Probably the main reason.  For those of you who watch Modern Family - yes I will be Claire in 20 years.  In fact, in 20 years, if anyone says to me "are you trying to get candy or a Japanese business man" I might die of joy.  YOU DON'T MESS WITH TRADITION. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Welcome Home Becca!  So good to have you back from Belgium!  Since RV is her favorite, and also since she missed the dessert party, I figured I'd make some RVC for Becca.  There are so many yum recipes out that I wasn't sure where to begin.  I was a bit disappointed by my Martha cupcake recipe from Dessert Fest 2010! so I decided to look elsewhere. So naturally I turned to Smitten Kitchen to see if she had anything up her sleeve (and she did).

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

As former cupcake princess, I felt it was necessary to make some cupcakes for DESSERT FEST 2010!  So I pulled out my trusty cupcake encylopedias (cupcakes galore and martha stewart cupcakes) and scoured for a yummy recipe.  I saw a Halloween themed cupcake, and, naturally, felt this would be a good fit for DESSERT FEST 2010!, which was falling the week right before Halloween.

DESSERT FEST 2010!

Well...Dessert Fest 2010 was absolutely amazing.  For those of you who don't know what it is, I was invited by my friend Mai to co-chef DESSERT FEST 2010!  Mai learned how much I loved desserts while we were in Namibia and I would squeal at the sight of a pink cookie at a german bakery, or ooh and ahhh over a passionfruit mousse in the middle of Sossusvlei.  Mai and her friend Josh hosted the party last year and it was a success.  I was very excited to be a part of TEAM DESSERT FEST 2010! this year.

Saffron Coconut Ice Cream

Wow - I TOTALLY forgot about this one!  So here we are in November, posting about ice cream made in hot humid August.  Bored with the typical ice cream flavors I had recently experimented with, I wanted to continue trying NEW AND EXCITING things!  

Key Lime Cheesecake

My other go-to for recipe ideas and innovations?  Smitten Kitchen, of course.  So when I saw she had made a lovely key lime cheesecake, I quickly added it to my list for DESSERT FEST 2010! because it is one of my favorite desserts (shocking, I know...I'm a huge chocolate girl).  She adapted her recipe to make mini-tarts, but I took the original recipe from Gourmet to make one large cheesecake. 

And good thing.  This light, tangy tart was a huge hit amongst our DESSERT FEST 2010! crowd, right up there with Josh's Red Velvet!

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Short story: these were gross.  I don't think they even deserve a full post.  Okay...they weren't GROSS...I've just had a lot better.  And, I try not to downgrade when it comes to sweets (why waste calories?), so, I wouldn't make these again.

I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Oddly enough, she had a similar reaction to the brownies.  I should have saved my time!

If anyone does try this recipe and it comes out moist and delicious (like my sister's ganache brownies), please let me know.  I want to sample and know where I went wrong.

Mississippi Mud Cake

I've heard about Mississippi Mud Cake before, but never tried it.  When I was flipping through my Serendipity cookbook, I came across this chocolately sticky sweet dish.  And, because it was basically diabetes in a cake pan, I had to make it. 

Chocolate Chip Pizza

Remember those cookie cakes from Mrs. Field's cookies?  Okay wait let me back track.  Ohhhh Emmm Geee I love Mrs. Field's cookies.  They were the highlight of any mall visit from age 4-26. With a carton of skim milk.  I loved the chocolate chip ones as a little girl.  Now I love the macademia nut chocolate chip ones.  But THEN...remember the COOKIE CAKES?  With the piped icing on the outside and phrases such as "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations" on them?  I was in LOVE with those cookie cakes.  So when I saw this recipe, I HAD TO TRY IT!

Pedas, Round 2

Clearly I loved pedas enough to give them a second go-round when my first recipe didn't go as planned.  This time, I went straight to the source: Vidya Maushi.  I think the first peda I ever had was hers (probably when I was 13).  What better time to try this out then for DESSERT FEST 2010!

S'mores Brownies

Dessert Fest 2010!  WHAT SHOULD I MAKE?  Anything that is over the top sweet, chocolately and decadent, of course.  So where do I turn to for inspiration?  No other than Joy The Baker.  My sister introduced me to this blog because she too loves baking, but, unlike me, she gets all the chemistry stuff that goes on behind it. 

When I was around the age of 4, my mom would bring me those pre-made s'mores cookies that you heat for like 5 seconds in the microwave.  I loved those!  Well, at age 4 I loved anything with high fructose corn syrup and was nutritionally devoid (and...let's be honest here...nothing has really changed).  My favorite after-school snack.

When I'm at my parent's house, I always make s'mores over my mom's stovetop (yeah, yeah...I know...).  With graham crackers and bits of chocolate (whatever I can scrap from the pantry).  I usually do it when my sister is at school or doing her homework (and after I've eaten her halloween candy) so she can't steal my share of sticky melty sugar and chocolate (which is probably dripping down my chin, let's be real here).  And then I usually end up with graham cracker crumbs in my hair.  So I guess I don't do a good job of hiding my secret snack.

When I saw this recipe on Joy The Baker, I knew I had to try it out for the dessert party!

Pedas, Round 1

I haven't come across many indian sweets I haven't loved.  When I go to family friend's parties, I usually stuff my face with srikand and pedas.  So naturally, now that I've mastered ice cream, I want to move forward into the scary realm of disgustingly sweet yet flavorful indian treats.  And, pedas are my favorite (apart from rasamalai) so...off I went in search of a recipe.  

Rasamalai

My mom's signature dessert is rasamalai.  In fact, there may or may not have been an incident involving my younger sister where we fought, leap frog style, for the last piece of her rasamalai.  I probably won. 

Shahi Falooda Cupcakes

And today we have a lovely treat from a guest blogger: my friend Asmi.  Asmi made me some lovely cupcakes for my birthday celebration!  And, because they were pink, they of course had to make an appearance here on Hom Nom.

I've never had falooda, that I'm aware of.  Asmi explains what it is below.  We toyed with the idea of making falooda ice cream, but it didn't materialize since I was so busy making 800 other kinds of ice cream.  These are very delicious rose flavored cupcakes with candied almonds and pistachios.  A really fantastic birthday treat!

Moroccan Style Lamb

Nom nom nom...I love lamb!  So when I found this recipe in cookinglight, I added it to my to try list for when I went home.  It includes apricots - which - who doesn't love in cooking?  I think that pairs nicely with lamb.