Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki

Note: My friend Craig shared this delectable Japanese recipe with me and I have confirmed its deliriousness. Craig has his own recipe blog here.

Ingredients:

• okonomiyaki sauce
• yakisoba sauce
• japanese noodles
• dashi soup stock
• thin strips of meat: chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or whatever
• green onion sliced thin
• thin strips of carrot
• fresh mushrooms sliced thin
• eggs

Directions:

1) Cook japanese noodles according to package. Then stir fry with some yakisoba sauce.

2) Mix together

2 c flour
1 1/2 C water or water with dashi soup stock
1 egg
1/3-1/2 head of shreeded cabbage

3) pour some batter on a griddle, let it cook for a little, then add toppings (meat and vetetables) and flip over.

4) Meanwhile, cook an egg on the griddle, break yoke and swish it around so that the egg is about the same size as the pancake.

To serve:

Layer on the plate in the following order

1. some stir-fried Japanese noodles
2. fried egg
3. okonomiyaki pancake

Drizzle okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top

Notes

• I cheated and bought a package of thinly slice cabbage (intended for use in cole slaw).
• I used pork when I made it.
• I used an electric griddle to cook everything.

Gyoza

Note: My friend Craig shared this delectable Japanese recipe with me and I have confirmed its deliriousness.  Craig has his own recipe blog here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 to 2 ¼ cup shredded white or Napa cabbage
• 4-5 scallions, finely diced
• 1½ T grated, minced fresh ginger root
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 T tamari dark soy sauce
• 1 to 1 ½ t sesame oil
• 1 ½ T oyster sauce
• ground black pepper, to taste
• slosh or two of mirin
• 50 gyoza wrappers, or as needed (also wonton wrappers, basically anything that is round and small)

Directions:

1) Chop cabbage fine, sprinkle with coarse salt, let sit for 20 minutes then squeeze out as much water as you can with a cheese cloth or clean tea towel

2) Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl, adding meat last.

3) Place 1 1/2 teaspoons in the center of each gyoza wrapper and use your finger to put water around the edge.

4) Fold the sides up to form a semicircle, and then pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the rest of the gyoza wrappers until the filling is gone. (Or, cheat like I did and use a wonton press)

5) To cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add some of the Gyoza, don’t crowd the pat too much, and cook for 2 minutes, or until medium golden brown on the bottom.

6) Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Cover the dumplings and cook until the water is absorbed (5 to 7 minutes). Repeat with the remainder of the gyoza dumplings.

Prepared Tamari Soy Sauce

½ C Tamari dark soy sauce
½ C Katsuobushi (dried bonito tuna flakes)
¼ C dried seaweed (nori)
3 T mirin

Put all of the ingredients in a small sauce pan, bring to a simmer over medium to medium-high heat, remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bonito flakes and seaweed with a very small sieve or spider, being sure to squeeze as much liquid out as possible, and then discard.

Gyoza Dipping Sauce

1 C prepared Tamari sauce (see recipe above)
1 C rice vinegar
1 t sesame oil (or to taste. You may also use rayu - spicy sesame oil)

To be added at table and/or to taste. When preserving left over sauce in the fridge, do not add the following ingredients. They do not keep long. Add them fresh to the sauce before serving, and in this way, the sauce will keep in the fridge longer.

1 teaspoon minced/grated ginger root
1 scallion, minced

Optional:

1-2 T fresh grated daikon radish
¼ teaspoon roasted, crushed sesame seeds
dash of lemon juice

Notes

• I cheated and bought a package of thinly slice cabbage (intended for use in cole slaw).
• I used shrimp when I made it.
• It made more Gyoza than would fit in my frying pan. So, I got my bamboo steamer out and steamed the rest on top of cabbage leaves.

Sweet & Sour -whatever-

Sweet and sour is a very versatile dish.  You can use a variety of meats, such as chicken, shrimp, or pork (not sure beef would be good - but, to be honest, I've never tried it).  It's also a good way to use of vegetables as just about anything can go into a sweet & sour dinner.

 Living on a gulf coast state, we regularly get shrimp on sale in our local grocery stores.  This week, our local Tom Thumb had shrimp for $2.99/lb (in 2 lb bags).  It was the small (51-60/lb) shrimp - but that's perfect for a sweet & sour.

I found a good sweet & sour recipe in a Thai cookbook recently - which I, of course, have modified to my own tastes.  The trick to a good sweet & sour is to have a variety of colors in the vegetables.  I like to include the following colors:  red, green, yellow, orange, white

Ingredients

• Rice
• 1 - 1½ lbs of meat (chicken, pork, or shrimp)
• 4 cloves garlic
• oil
• 1 cup cashews (optional)
• Variety of vegetables cut into bite sized pieces, such as
• pineapple chunks, 1 can *
• onion *
• bell pepper *
• carrot *
• water chestnuts, 1 can
• bamboo shoots, 1 can
• snow peas
• sugar peas
• cucumber
• celery
• mushrooms
• tomato

* a 'must have' vegetable - in my own most humble of opinions

Sweet & Sour sauce ingredients

• 1 cup stock (see note 1)
• 6 Tbl vinegar (nothing fancy, cider vinegar is just fine)
• 6 Tbl sugar (I prefer brown, but white will suffice)
• 4 Tbl ketchup (or catsup, whichever name you prefer)
• 4 Tbl juice from pineapple chunks (if using shrimp, can substitute with 2 Tbl Thai fish sauce, if desired)
• 4 Tbl oyster sauce
• 2 Tbl corn starch
• 1½ Tbl chili sauce (see note 6)
• 1 Tbl grated ginger

Directions

1. Start cooking rice.  While rice is cooking, cut up vegetables
2. If using shrimp, peel and devein it and save the shells (see note 1). If using chicken or pork then cut into bite sized cubes.
3. Mince garlic and mix with meat and let sit until ready to cook (can even be done a few hours ahead of time)
4. Add a couple Tbl oil to wok and saute the vegetables.  Different vegetables require different amounts of cooking time; so, I suggest adding them in the following order, sauteing each for a minute or so until adding the next (if not using a particular vegetable then just skip it).  That way, the first vegetables added get cooked longer
• carrot
• celery + bell pepper + onion
• mushroom + cucumber
• tomato + snow peas + sugar peas
• water chestnuts + bamboo shoots + pineapple chunks (just enough to heat through)
5. Remove vegetables to a serving bowl
6. Add a bit more oil to wok and saute meat until cooked through
7. Add sweet & sour sauce and cook until thickened
8. Add vegetables back to wok and stir until all is coated
9. Remove to serving bowl
10. Service with rice
11. Go vegetate on the couch after having eaten too much because it tasted so good

 Notes

1. If using chicken or pork then use 1 cup chicken stock. If using shrimp, put shrimp shells in a small sauce pan along with about 1½ - 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Then let simmer for a bit to reduce (and concentrate the flavor).  Turn off and let cool with shells in water (which will maximize the amount of flavor in the water).   Strain and add 1 cup of the shrimp stock to the sweet & sour sauce.
2. Don't skimp on the vegetables - use a cup or two of each.  Makes it more healthy.
3. I prefer canola oil, but any vegetable oil will suffice
4. Personally, I don't like the taste of green bell peppers; so, I always use red, yellow, or orange.
5. A trick I learned from Rachel Ray (Food Network) is to buy fresh ginger, peel it and then freeze it in a small ziplock baggie.  You can then just take it out of the freezer and just grate however much you need.  Being frozen, it grates up nice and fine.
6. For the chili sauce, I use Sriracha sauce - which my children refer to as "rooster sauce" because of the picture of a chicken on the bottle.

Greek Moussaka

My daughter, who is living with us while her husband is in basic training with the U.S. Air Force, has started following the Atkins diet.  I was once on this diet; so, I am familiar with what is and is not legal to eat.  I've been trying to be conscous of this as I prepare dinner to either make a low carb dinner, or something where the carb component can be easily eliminated or removed (such as rice, noodles, etc.).

Tonight I made a Greek Moussaka. Not all recipe's for Moussaka are low carb; but, there are some very delicious ones.  This is mine which is a combination of three different recipe's I found

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants (about 2½ pounds total)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated

Meat Sauce

• 1 lb ground lamb or beef
• 1 small onion chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic minced
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• smidge allspice
• pinch ground cloves
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf
• 14½ ounce can chopped tomatoes with juice

Custard sauce

• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Peel eggplant and slice in to ½ inch thick slices. 
3. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil and place on a foil lined baking sheet, overlapping as necessary. 
4. Cover baking sheet with foil and then bake for 25 minutes in a 425 degree oven
5. Brown onion until starting to brown then add minced garlic.
6. Add ground meat and cook until meat is done
7. Drain meat/onion mixture and then add spices, cook for about 30 seconds to toast spices and then add tomatoes and bay leaf
8. Simmer until eggplant is done (about 15-20 minutes)
9. Assemble by placing a thin layer of meat sauce in the bottom of the baking dish.  Add 1/3 of the eggplant slices, cover with grated cheese and 1/2 of the meat sauce.  Repeat with 1/3 eggplant, 1/3 grated cheese, and remaining 1/2 meat sauce.  Top with remaining 1/3 eggplant.  Pour custard sauce over entire surface and top with remaining 1/3 grated cheese
10. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes, until  top is toasted and a knife comes out clean when inserted.

Notes

• Many recipes call for leaving the skin on the eggplant.  While it may be edible, I personally find it tough and unplesant in the mouth.  So, I always peel my eggplant.
• Measurements like "small onion" or "clove garlic" are very ambiguous.  For this recipe, I used an onion that was about 7-8 ounces and ended up with 5-6 ounces of chopped onion after cutting ends off and removing skin.  I didn't measure the garlic cloves beforehand, but I used about ½ ounce minced garlic
• A smidge is about 1/8 tsp and a pinch is about 1/16 tsp

Sushi party

Last week was my son-in-law's birthday. As is our tradition, we have a family birthday party, usually on a Sunday; and, we pick something favored by the birthday guest of honor. For his birthday dinner, we decided to have a Sushi party. This is something we've done, at least, two times before. So, while we're certainly no experts, but we have developed a good idea of what we like.

Many people equate sushi with raw fish; but, you do not have to use raw fish if you don't want to. You can use cooked shrimp or fish, or even make vegetarian sushi rolls.

Disclaimer: I am going to describe how we do a sushi party - in no way am I suggesting that this is how Sushi parties should be done, nor am I claiming that the sushi we create is in any way authentic.

There is a reason that sushi is expensive - it is very labor intensive, there is a lot involved in making it. However, that is also what makes it a good party theme where guests can each take a turn making their own sushi creation.

INGREDIENTS

There are also a lot of ingredients involved; although, if you do any amount of asian cooking then you very well may have a lot of these already on hand. Only a couple of these are essential, the rest being optional, depending upon the type of sushi you want to make. This is what we had on hand for our sushi party.

1. Sushi rice. This is absolutely essential - you can't have sushi without sushi rice.
2. Crab sticks. I use imitation crab - which, truth be told, is what many sushi restaurants also use.
3. Sushi grade fish. For this sushi party we opted for the (cooked) eel; although, we've used raw salmon and tuna in previous parties.
4. Shrimp. I prefer the 16-20/pound size. Buy it raw, but it will be cooked before you use it.
5. Nori. This is another essential - it is the seaweed wrapper.
6. Carrots
7. Cucumber
8. Avocado
9. Sesame seeds
10. Wasabi powder
11. Mirin
12. Sriracha sauce
13. Chili garlic sauce
14. Lite soy sauce
15. Heavy soy sauce
16. Panko bread crumbs
17. Rice vinegar. Also called rice wine vinegar. I also comes in regular and sweet, I prefer the regular
18. Cream cheese

Not shown

• Mayonnaise
• Pickled ginger slices
• Sugar
• Sesame oil

Other possible ingredients

• Tofu (extra firm)
• Scallions (spring onions)
• Mushrooms
• Snow peas
• Asparagus (lightly steamed)
• Daikon radish

Notes:

• If you have a store that sells bulk items, check there first as it can be a lot cheaper. For example, those bags of sesame seeds and wasibe powder were each only about 50¢. Buying those prepackaged would each cost about $2, $3, or even $4.
• If you have a store that has a good fish counter then check with them. Our local Central Market carries frozen sushi grade fish: Salmon, tuna, and eel in 8 ounce packages. The salmon and tuna are raw, the eel is cooked.
• The wasabi we get in the US is not true wasabi - it is green tinted horseradish. You can get it premixed; but, it is cheaper to buy the powder and mix it yourself.
• Mirin is essentially cooking sake, not unlike other cooking wines. The kind I buy has a bit of salt (to avoid being sold as alcohol) and contains less than 1% alcohol. You should be able to find it in any large supermarket that has a good asian food section.
• The Sriracha sauce is sometimes referred to as "rooster sauce" because of the picture of the rooster on the bottle. Available in most large supermakets that have a good asian food section.
• The use of either lite or heavy soy sauce is a personal choice. It's good to have both on hand.
• Panko bread crumbs are made from bread without crusts and has a crisper, airier texture than other bread crumbs. Many large supermarkets now carry it. Although, it may or may not be in the asian food section - it may be in the baking goods section where other types of bread crumbs are sold.

EQUIPMENT

There is also some equipment you will need.

1. Chopsticks
2. Small bowls. These are for holding dips, sauces, wasibi, or whatever else.
3. Nigiri Sushi Mold. - this is highly optional and is just fun to have
4. Plastic wrap
5. Cutting board
6. Sharp knife
7. Sushi mat. These are inexpensive, so get a couple so that more than one person can be making sushi at a time

Not shown

• Squirt bottles (the kind used for ketchup and mustard at picnics)
• Bowls of various and sundry sizes for preparation
• Serving plates
• Eating plates

Notes:

• Nigirizushi is a hand-formed sushi consisting of an oblong glob of sushi rice usually topped with a bit of wasabi and fish such as raw salmon or tuna

PRE-PREPARATION

Some preparation steps can be done ahead of time. I don't recommend doing it too far in advance; but, doing it the morning of the sushi party is fine.

Prepare the sushi rice

First off, be sure to use real sushi rice which is a short grain sticky rice - the long grain variety that is common in the US will not work. Although, sushi rice should be available in any large supermarket that has a decent asian food section. If you have a store that sells items in bulk then check there first as it will likely be cheaper.

Properly prepared sushi rice is essential for making good sushi. If it's too dry or wet then making the sushi will be all the more difficult. Real sushi chef's will tell you that it takes years to perfect making sushi rice; so, as amateurs ours will not be perfect - but we do the best we can.

I'm not going to go into the process for making sushi rice as that would be a blog post all by itself. I don't mean to make this sound intimidating as it really isn't that difficult. Essentially, you cook the sushi rice according to the directions on the package and then, while still warm, gently fold in a mixture of rice wine vinegar and sugar.

The process is well documented on the internet. You can even search YouTube for video's showing how to make it. A good site to check out is:

Make My Sushi

Prepare the shrimp

As I indicated in the ingredients list, I prefer the 16-20/pound size, although any size will work. It's just that the larger ones are easier to work with.

A problem with shrimp is that it curls up tight when cooked. What we want is straight shrimp that can be easily put into a sushi roll. To accomplish this, I stick skewers into the raw shrimp to straighten it out.

Peel and devein the shrimp, trying to leave the tail piece on. Next push a thin skewer through the length of the shrimp to straighten.

To cook the shrimp I simply boil it; although, to increase flavor, I boil it with the shells I removed (there is a lot of flavor in the shells). I also add a bit of seaweed (for a hint of the sea). I add just enough water to cover the shimp, bring it to a boil and then turn it off as soon as it boils and let it cool in the water (to enhance the flavor). To prevent the shrimp from overcooking, I added a few ice cubes and then placed the pan into a larger pan filled with cold water to cool it enough to stop the cooking process.

Leave the skewers in the shrimp until completely cooled, otherwise they will curl if still warm. Remove the skewer by twisting it out. Then put it in a ziplock bag along with a tablespoon (or so) of Mirin. Massage the bag to make sure all of the shrimp is coated with the Mirin and then refrigerate until ready to use.

Slice the vegetables

Peel the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise, and scrape out all of the seeds. Peel the carrots. You'll want to slice the vegetables into long strips. They should be as long as the width of the Nori. I used a pampered chef mandolin which has a julianne attachment; but, cutting them by hand wouldn't be that hard. Alternatively you could julianne cut them into matchstick size pieces.

You may want to parboil the carrots just a bit to soften them, be careful not to cook them completely as you still want to have a bit of crunch. You may need to run them under cold water after parboiling to stop the cooking process.

Slice the cream cheese

Slice the cream cheese into long slices about 1/2" wide X 1/4" thick and the length of the cream cheese block. It helps to stick it in the freezer a bit to firm it up. Just be sure to not keep it in the freezer too long as if it freezes it will change the consistency of the cream cheese.

Toast the sesame seeds and panko bread crumbs

You can toast them in an oven; however, I have a tendency to burn them. I prefer toasting them in a frying pan (no oil). That way I can watch them and toast them to a light golden color.

Put the sesame seeds and panko bread crumbs each into a shallow wide bowl large enough so that the sushi rolls can be rolled.

Wrap the sushi mat in plastic wrap

This is just to make cleanup easier at the end. Don't skimp on the plastic wrap, I wrap it around 2 or 3 times.

Prepare the wasibe

Start by mixing together equal parts of wasabi powder and water until it is the desired consistency. If you feel energetic, you can make it a bit thicker and then mold it into small shapes. I made mine into marble sized balls.

Prepare the nori

You can use the full sheets of nori to make sushi; however, experience has shown that doing so makes sushi that is too large to eat as a single bite. The nori sheets are perforated with 6 sections. We've found that carefully folding it on the 4th perforation and then tearing it makes the perfect size.

Unfortunately, cutting it in half (along the 3rd perforation) is a bit too small; so, you do end up with the remaining 2 sections as wasted pieces of nori. You could add one or two of these waste pieces to the water when boiling the shrimp. You could also cut the waste pieces into thin strips and add them to miso soup. Or, you could just discard them.

Prepare sauces

There are a number of sauces that can be used either inside the sushi or squirt on top after cutting the sushi

Kabayaki (eel) Sauce

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. Pour all ingredients in a pan and then stir the mixture well. Put the pan on low heat and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture. Store the sauce in a clean squirt bottle in the refrigerator or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Spicy Mayonnaise

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Sriracha chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp hot sesame oil

1. Mix together and store the sauce in a clean squirt bottle

Wasabi Mayonnaise

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp wasabi powder

1. Mix together and store the sauce in a clean squirt bottle

Starting in the lower left corner and going clockwise

Boiled shrimp
Julianne cut carrots and cucumber
toasted panko bread crumbs
wasabi paste
wasabi balls
toasted sesame seeds






DIRECTIONS

You'll need to setup a work area to make the sushi with all of the ingredients laid out. Include a bowl of water large enough to dip the knife into as this will make slicing the sushi easier. You'll probably also want dishtowels to wipe and clean the hands as they tend to get sticky after working with the sushi rice.

Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed, carefully remove the peel while keeping the avocado halves intact, then slice it thinly. This is something that can't be done ahead of time because the avocado will brown.

If using eel then broil it according to package directions.

Place a sheet of Nori onto the sushi mat, put some sushi rice on top and spread it out into a thin layer across the entire sheet. Dip your fingers in the water frequently to keep the rice from sticking. Be sure to shake off excess water from your fingers so as to not make the sushi rice too wet.

You can then start placing the ingredients on the rice side, or you can make an inside-out sushi roll (as shown) by flipping it over and placing the ingredients on the nori side. Just be careful not to put too much as it will make it difficult to roll. The sushi roll shown has broiled eel (cut into thin strips), cream cheese strip, and avacado slices. You can add a bit of sauces on the inside before rolling. Just be creative.

Then just roll it up using the mat, trying to keep it as round as possible.

If making an inside-out roll then you can roll it in the toasted panko bread crumbs or sesame seeds before slicing. Doing so doesn't work as well if the nori is on the outside as it won't stick to the nori. You can also place avacado slices or fish slices on top and then press it into the roll before removing it from the sushi mat.

Sushi rolls are typically cut into 8 pieces - cut the roll in half, then cut each half in half, finally cut each quarter in half. You can leave the rolls on end and put sauces on the top. Or you can lay them out and put sauces on each piece.

Here are just a few of the sushi rolls we made. They don't look as pretty as those you get in sushi restaurants, but they sure were tasty!

Zesty Cheese Doodles

Here is the South, a tasty appetizer that is often served during the holidays is Cheese Straws. Well, I think that is true because 1) I've never actually tasted a cheese straw and 2) it's debatable if Texas is really part of the South. Anyway, I was looking at some recipe's in a holiday magazine and came across a cheese straw recipe. It's really quite simple; but, I decided to make it better. The original recipe included a bit of cayenne pepper. I decided to include some garlic powder. I also decided I would put a bit of blue cheese in the middle and roll them in sesame seeds

Warning: These are addictively good

Ingredients

• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded
• 1 cup flour
• 1 stick butter, softened
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• blue cheese crumbles

Equipment

• cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients except for the sesame seeds and blue cheese. It would probably be easiest in a food processor; however, my son borrowed ours, so I just kneaded it by hand. It makes a pretty stiff dough and will give your hands a work out.
2. Roll into 1-balls with a bit of blue cheese in the middle (maybe a 1/4 tsp or so, eyeball it).
3. Roll balls in sesame seeds and place on cookie sheet
4. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned on top - about 15 minutes (checking every minute or two after 10 minutes). Note that they will flatten and spread out, so be sure to leave room between them.
5. Let set on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes after removing from the oven and then slide parchment paper onto a cooling rack
   

Other variations to try (I haven't actually tried any of these yet)

• Substitute 1/2 tsp curry powder for the cayenne pepper and garlic powder
• Roll in crush pecans instead of sesame seeds
• Roll it around a slice of pickled jalapeño pepper instead of blue cheese
• Roll it around a couples of slices of black olive instead of blue cheese
• Roll it in panko bread crumbs instead of sesame seeds
  

Notes:

• I was impatient and didn't feel like waiting for the butter to soften; so, I just grated it with the cheese grater and mixed it in with the flour and cheese
• You could freeze the balls before baking and then have them to bake whenever company comes over or you just feel like a tasty snack. Either let them thaw before baking or increase baking time
  

Butternut Squash Soup

One fall I had butternut squash soup at corner bakery that was absolutely delicious. So, I set out on a internet search quest to recreate this wonderful culinary delight. With a few of my own twists, I think I've done it.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds fresh butternut squash
• 4 Tbl unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• freshly ground nutmeg

Equipment

• Stock pot with steamer insert
• Hand blender

Directions

1. Remove any labels and wash squash under cold running water.
2. Cut squash into quarters lengthwise. Scrape out seeds and stringy stuff and reserve. Place squash quarters into steamer insert skin side up.
3. Dice shallot and red bell pepper into small pieces
4. Melt butter on medium in bottom of stockpot and add diced shallot and red bell pepper, saute until shallot is translucent (about 2-3 minutes)
5. Add reserved seeds and stringy stuff from squash. The idea is you want to lightly toast the seeds in the butter; but, first the liquid needs to be boiled out. This will take about 10-15 minutes stirring frequently.
6. When squash seeds begin to take on a light brown color then add the 6 cups of water and bring to a boil
7. Place steamer basket with squash into stock pot and cover. Steam the squash for about 30 minutes on medium high.
8. When the squash is tender, turn off heat and lift steamer basket out of pot and let drain. Leave squash draining into liquid until both are cool enough to handle
9. Strain steaming liquid and reserve, discard solids
10. Scrape squash pulp into a clean pan and discard skin
11. Using the hand blender, blend the squash pulp adding just enough of the reserved steaming liquid until smooth textured and of the desired consistency (you may or may not end up using all of the liquid)
12. Stir in cream, brown sugar, and nutmeg and adjust seasoning
13. Gently heat, being careful to stir often as it will scorch easily.
14. Enjoy with some nice chewy french bread