All the information below comes from Russ Parsons’ book, How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table. It’s a book I refer to over and over. It’s such a treasure-trove of veggie and fruit information I can’t begin to remember it all. Like whether a fruit should be allowed to sit at room temp, or refrigerated, or whether to choose a firm unripe fruit, or a perfectly ripe one, how many days pears need to ripen, or which fig varieties are the best. And in this case, whether kabocha squash requires a different kind of cooking method than, say, a butternut.

It was news to me that winter squashes are grown around the world, but there are over 350 varieties of North American squash. Seems like I know – maybe – about 10. Or 12. But no more than that! When you see a display of winter squashes at a farm stand or farmer’s market, you’ll likely see about 4 or 5. But actually, there are three different types: Cucurbita pepo (stems are angular and flared where they attach to the squash); Cucurbita maxima (stems are round); and Cucurbita moschata (stems are smooth and grooved). Each of those is like a family. Within each there are lots of varieties.

Actually, winter squash is a vining fruit (have seeds? it’s fruit). Meaning that the Cucurbit family also contains cucumbers, melons and all types of squash, winter and summer. Winter squashes are allowed to mature on the vine, which gives them time to develop a hard shell. That’s one of the differences from summer squash. The hard shell allows it to keep in cold storage. Think Grandmother’s root cellar . . . she harvested the squashes and stored them in the cold cellar where they’d be quite content for months and months, clear into mid-winter.

Parsons talks specifically about pumpkin. Since I’m a real fan of pumpkin anything, I found this interesting. Most of the pumpkin used for canned pumpkin (think Libby’s) comes from a different variety altogether – something more similar to butternut squash. You may know already that the only variety, just about, that can be used for baking and desserts is a “sugar pumpkin.” The pumpkins we know so well that sit in mounds in our grocery stores is not an eating pumpkin. It’s grown just for decoration and carving.  Definitely not for eating.

The book recommends that, for all intents and purposes, there are really only four major types of winter squash that we eat – at least here in North America:

ACORN: Likely the most familiar type (after pumpkin). Parsons calls it a middle-of-the-road squash. Skin is dark green with blushes of orange; flesh is pale to medium orange, texture semi smooth and rich, moderately sweet. Table Queen is a good variety.

BUTTERNUT: Choose ones that have a FAT neck and smallest bulb (meaning it will have a smaller seed cavity and the most squash meat). This happens to be Parsons’ favorite squash.

CARNIVAL: Looks like a harlequin acorn squash with a patchwork of dark green and bright orange. Flesh is dark orange, slightly fibrous, complex flavor, rich, sweet, earthy note. [Gee, almost sounds like I’m describing wine . . .]

KABOCHA: Round, flattened, dark green skin with delicate gray-blue tracing, or all-green and all-orange); flesh is pale to medium orange, very dense, smooth, sweet, nice green squashy edge (Parson’ words) backbone.

Choosing Squash: Here’s news to me . . . examine the STEM . . . it should always be present on the squash AND it should be dry and corky, which tells you it stayed on the vine until it was almost ready to fall off. Color deep and vibrant. Matte, not shiny skin. Cure it for up to two weeks – out on your kitchen counter. Acorn, carnival types should be refrigerated. Once squash is “cured,” it should be stored at about 50 degrees. Refrigerating will deaden the flavor.

Cooking Squash: Cooked with moisture (some moisture, not covered) the flavor is subtle with a delicate texture. Baking will bring out the caramelization, the natural sugars. Pan sautéing winter squash may be the best option – it caramelizes on the outside and stays sweet and subtle on the inside. You get the best of both cooking methods.

Recipes: Parsons includes three variations with winter squash – Winter Squash Risotto with Walnuts and Fried Sage Leaves; Mushroom & Spaghetti Squash Gratin and Parmesan Bread Crumbs; and Caramelized Winter Squash with Rosemary Gremolata.

Here on my blog you’ll find the following recipes utilizing some kind of winter squash: Butternut Squash Risotto with Pancetta (oh yea, fabulous), Thai Pumpkin Curry Soup, Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger & Jalapeno,  Yams, Carrots & Ginger,  Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta, Garlic & Sage , Butternut Cube Fries, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup,  Butternut Squash Soup with Zippy Jalapeno & Ginger (a favorite).

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It was at a cooking class that I heard about this dish. Phillis Carey just talked about this, but didn’t make it. Someone in the class asked a question about Brussels Sprouts and Phillis just off-handedly mentioned that her favorite way to cook the baby cabbages was simmering them in cream. She elaborated just slightly to say halve all the sprouts, leaving the stem intact (although trimming the base of any brown edges). They’re piled into a big pot, some cream is added. Once they’re at a simmer, turn down the heat, cover and cook for 9-10 minutes, then remove lid and continue cooking until the sprouts are fully cooked and the cream is hardly visible in the bottom of the pan, or gone. Season with some freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper and you’re done. I scribbled down that recipe in about 10-12 words on the back of one of the class recipes, and pulled it out the other day to try.

Here are the sprouts raw and halved. Making these, though, was easy – well, my DH cleaned and trimmed the Brussels Sprouts for me, so all I had to do was the cooking part. I had smaller sprouts, so cooked them about 7-8 minutes, I think, then removed the lid and continued. They weren’t quite done when all the cream had disappeared, so I just added a smidgen of water to the pot. You don’t want to add milk as it will separate with that kind of cooking. That’s why you use cream because it can be boiled and not separate. These are scrumptious. I couldn’t get enough of them, and even reached in the refrigerator the next day and had them as a snack. I didn’t use much cream (about 1/3 cup for 2 pounds of sprouts), but the nutmeg is a real capper. And don’t skimp on the salt, either. Taste to make sure. Mine needed more than I thought.
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Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC – 14 contains photo)

A year ago: Cardoons (uh, my one and only venture with this veggie, and I didn’t like it at all)

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Reading as many recipes as I do in the course of a few months, unless I make notes, or recognize the print style, I can’t recall where I read or heard about a recipe. Such with this one. I think it was on somebody’s blog that I read about it. And the writer sent us off to the New York Times’ website to retrieve it, which I did, as it was in that week’s food section. I think. It wasn’t all that long ago – like a month. It’s  a Mark Bittman recipe – he of restaurant and TV fame. And cookbook fame too – he’s done one or more books about the “Best” of specific recipes (kind of like Cook’s Illustrated in a way). I don’t own any of his tomes. But, I will tell you this recipe is awfully darned good. When I did a search for this recipe I noticed a lot of other food bloggers are on this recipe’s bandwagon too. I’m  delighted to join the parade.

It’s a salad, or a side vegetable combo. The list of ingredients is simple: sweet potatoes (I used the dark orange type we call yams), onions, both roasted with olive oil, S&P, then tossed with some canned black beans (rinsed & drained), some minced bell peppers, a passel of cilantro chopped, and then the very simple dressing (pictured at left) of olive oil, some minced green chile (hot type like jalapeno), garlic and lime juice. Very simple. And very extra delicious, I assure you. The recipe said to toss the salad with the dressing just before serving, but I think soaking it in the dressing for awhile just brightened all the flavors. There was still a bit of dressing in the bottom of the bowl which I just left there for the leftovers. My first foray into Mark Bittman’s world produced a great recipe. I’d make this again anytime.
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A year ago: Peppers for Cold Meats (a kind of relish – I liked it so much I’ve posted about it twice and have made it 3 times in the last 6 months)

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Really, I do love green beans. You can fix and eat them in SO many ways. Even plain with just a hint of butter, salt and pepper. If you’ve read my blog for long you know that I’m a huge fan of a recipe for Garlic Green Beans & Olive Oil. So easy, and I could eat a mountain of them. I was lured from the olive oil and garlic route in a class with Phillis Carey, awhile back. Hers have the allure of hazelnuts. But they’re also very easy. A dish you could make for guests, as long as you cook the beans ahead of time and have them and the hazelnuts all ready to finish just before dining.

When I made them a few days ago with some of the haricot verts (baby) beans from Costco, I decided to change the recipe a little bit, mainly because the hazelnuts I had needed to be skinned. Trader Joe’s carries them most of the year, but they’re not roasted or skinned, so the little buggers have to be toasted and rubbed to get the skin off. The easiest way to do this is to roast the nuts in a hot oven for a few minutes, then roll them around between two layers of terry cloth towels.

After roasting the nuts in a 400 oven for about 4-7 minutes, they looked like this – notice the cracks on some of them. They got hot enough that the skins began to crack off. That’s a good sign.

Here they are on a rough towel just before I started rolling them. You simply place the other half of the towel over the nuts and use the flat of your hands on the top towel to rub and roll around. Sometimes an errant nut will escape. I usually gather them back into a closer circle and do it again and again. Takes just a minute or so.

This is the result: most of the nuts have released their skins. You’ll notice one nut (top right) didn’t. I rolled that one several times all by itself. It still didn’t release the skin, so I chopped it anyway. A few skins won’t matter, but it’s good to get most of them off the nuts. The skins are bitter (well, somewhat bitter), therefore you do need to do this step – unless you can find mostly skinned ones already.

Since the skinning process toasted them, I didn’t want to pan-toast as in Phillis’ recipe. So I decided to use olive oil (rather than butter) and ADD some true hazelnut oil at the end. Then I tossed the chopped hazelnuts in at the end. I used my pounder to chop the nuts – that took about one minute max. Either way you make this, it has a distinct hazelnut flavor. Really delicious – either hot or cold. I served these as leftovers a night or two later, cold, and they were just as good. If you used butter you’ll need to reheat the beans to melt the butter – with olive oil you don’t.
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Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC – 14 contains photo)

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Does this salad ring a nostalgic bell in your head? I know my mother used to make something like this when I was very young. I think her concoction was just peas, cheese and mayo. Maybe it included some chopped-up sweet pickle. My friend Norma, who is recovering from major surgery, is trying to eat a few more things – like veggies – not just the puddings and smooth things she was eating a few weeks ago. That’s progress, I think. So I asked her what sounded good. She mentioned a pea salad with cheese cubes in it. Sure thing. She also thought green beans sounded good. So I cooked up a batch of baby green beans with bacon and onion. And I tried to create a pea salad that would intrigue her taste buds. She nixed the pickles (I only had relish, and that didn’t appeal to her).

But I added in some other things that may not have been in any of the 1950 era recipes – like bacon. A few recipes I found included macaroni, so I dug around in my pasta stash and found these baby tubes. And I included some hard boiled eggs in the salad too. I scooped out a small portion for us to eat and took the bulk of it to Norma. The salad is really good – amazing how just some simple ingredients can taste so good. Not exactly gourmet, but hey, once in awhile we need comfort food, right?
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A year ago: Chicken Chili
Two years ago: Chocolate Almond Biscotti

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Surely over the years I’d read about shrimp and grits, but for whatever reason, it never appealed to me much. Or let’s say it didn’t appeal enough to make it; nor had I ever ordered it on the rare occasions when it might have been on a menu. But looking at what I had in the refrigerator to serve alongside some shrimp for dinner the other night, I decided I’d adapt an internet recipe from Bobby Flay. Not only was it easy, but it was downright delicious. Fabulous, actually. We both sat in contented silence relishing each bite. Until the two bowls were slicked clean.

So what exactly was it that made it so good? Well, there’s no question the butter, milk and grated sharp Cheddar cheese helped the grits (aka polenta) along the path to outstanding flavor. That served as the bed for the quickly-made shrimp with bacon, lemon juice, garlic, Italian parsley and green onions. There’s really not much else to it. I made creamy grits/polenta (using half milk, half water), and I added more lemon juice and parsley than Flay’s recipe. Actually I used fat-free half and half for the milk, but 2% milk is just fine.

I also made some sautéed Swiss chard too, thanks to Karen, our daughter-in-law who shared bounty from her garden and her sister’s veggie patch. To serve, I scooped the grits into the bottom of a wide deep bowl (a pasta bowl), then placed the shrimp on one side and the Swiss chard on the other. You can’t quite see the chard in the background of the picture, but that dark unfocused blob is it.

It helps to get all the ingredients ready before you begin – or at least while the polenta is simmering, gather up everything else since once you start cooking the shrimp it’s quick. I needed to add some water to keep the polenta creamy during the last 8 or so minutes of the 20 minutes of cooking time. The Swiss chard takes but a few minutes – we like it with some texture still remaining, so cooking it for only 4-5 minutes is max. I’ve included that recipe below – it’s ever so simple.
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A year ago: Baked Eggs with chorizo & cannellini beans
Two years ago: Chicken with Lemon and Garlic Crust

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I was totally prepared to be ho-hum about this dish. Until I took my first bite, that is. Then I ate every single solitary rice kernel on the plate. It makes a delicious side dish, or if you’re inspired to eat a meal without a meaty main dish, this is the answer. This isn’t vegetarian, because it does contain pancetta and chicken broth. I suppose you could leave those out, but am not sure it would be all that good. But then, vegetarians are used to eating some foods without the intense flavors provided by meat. So maybe it would be fine! Oh yes, it also contains a moderate amount of butter too. And the saffron – when Phillis Carey prepared it at the class, she meant to put in a pinch of saffron. When she dipped into it, though, her fingers grabbed a gob of it – probably more like 2-3 teaspoons. Not only did it color the risotto – that lovely rosy yellow gold that saffron does – but it also gave it HUGE flavor. So in the recipe below I increased the saffron. We had the leftovers a few nights later. Oh my goodness were they ever GOOD. Not quite as creamy, but almost. I could have just eaten THAT for dinner.
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The visual above isn’t nearly good enough for this delicious side dish. Pale colored food just doesn’t photograph very well. But, this is SO good. So rich. So bad for us. It’s a good thing I only had that small portion to eat at the cooking class with Phillis Carey, as I’d have been digging into the casserole dish for seconds. You can see the edge of the Filet Mignon above it, there. With it’s nice pink/red middle. The two are a marriage made in heaven. In case you didn’t read the other post, the meat is a Filet Mignon with Rich Balsamic Wine Hollandaise Sauce.

Nothing about the dish is difficult or all that unusual. It’s just the method that’s slightly different. You slice (with a mandoline, please) the potatoes directly into the cream and chicken broth, cook them until they’re just done, then they get layered in a casserole with some lightly caramelized yellow onions, and you add some whole-milk Mozzarella and some good Maytag or Danish blue cheese, along with the cream and chicken broth the potatoes were cooked in. Do crumble up the cheese well so you can spread it around evenly. Every serving needs to have some blue in it. You do dirty up a few dishes making this, but if you’re going to serve beef, this is the dish to go with it. Ideally, make this a couple of hours before you start the final cooking for the dinner, as you’d like to refrigerate this for an hour or two, then remove it from the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so before baking. The casserole is baked until golden on top, then let it sit to cool for about 15 minutes before serving. The potatoes will still be piping hot. Guaranteed raves all around.
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A year ago: A B&B in Portland, Oregon, Rose Cottage
Two years ago: Portuguese Sweet Bread (a sweet loaf type bread, reminiscent of King’s Hawaiian bread)

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I know. That’s not orzo. The orzo version, from the cooking class last week with Phillis Carey wasn’t such a great photo. So when I went to my pantry, I had no orzo. So baby farfalle was what it had to be. I always have kalamata olives in my refrigerator. And I try to keep a can of plain artichoke hearts in my pantry. Plus I always have Feta cheese too. And shallots and Italian parsley.

This dish is just yummy. Of course, it does have some butter in it, but I used less than Phillis suggested and added some olive oil. My DH just luvvved this dish. He wanted seconds. He wanted to know when we were going to have the leftovers. Never fear, dearest, you’ll get some!

Phillis served this side dish with some stuffed chicken breasts. I’m going to make those in a few days, so will share that recipe when I’ve fine-tuned it a bit. But this pasta dish was really, really good. Phillis said you could use dill instead of thyme. And you may not need any salt added, since the kalamata olives and the Feta both have some inherent sodium. So add pepper, but no salt. You can make this ahead if you want – earlier in the day – and just reheat in a casserole dish in the oven for 15-20 minutes. But don’t let it become dry – it’s not tasty that way, so add a bit of water (more of the past water) to keep it moist. I served this with chicken and a nice green salad. I cut the artichoke hearts into smaller pieces and I also removed a few of the outer leaves of them – sometimes I find tough leaves in canned artichoke hearts. so I carefully picked them over and pulled off a few and discarded them. Do rinse the artichoke hearts – that canned water stuff is not very palatable. And you could add more of anything – more shallots, more olives, more artichoke hearts, more Feta even. You could also eliminate things you don’t like. Substitute if you want. I’m sure if the cheese is there, it would be good just that way!
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A year ago: traveling in Walla Walla
Two years ago: Escarole, Belgian Endive & Apple Salad

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Back in 2001, Joanne Weir published a cookbook, Joanne Weir’s More Cooking in the Wine Country. I bought the book back then, attended a cooking class where Joanne was a guest chef, and at the end of the evening she happily autographed copies of the cookbook to one and all. This recipe, I believe, came from that cooking class. And I’d written notes about it back then, saying it was a stunner. It’s abundant with flavors. It has a myriad of textures too. Refreshing with the arugula and herb salad on top. If you’re a Joanne Weir fan, she just got married about 2 weeks ago and actually blogged about it and their Greek honeymoon, in case you’re interested.

Back to the recipe at hand . . . at the headpiece of the recipe, Joanne wrote about some of the Moroccan ingredients:

• “In the  Moroccan marketplace, it is not unusual to find spices piled high by their vendors, who appreciate the role these intense colors and flavors have in the cooking of their country. In this dish, lentils cooked with an assortment of Moroccan spices set off a salmon fillet that’s crisped by rapid cooking in olive oil.”

I started the dish the day before by cooking the lentils. You use the tiny, French ones, the de puy type, if you can find them. If not, use what you have available. They’re simply cooked, but with a modicum of whole cloves. They provide a very interesting fleeting flavor in the dish. When it’s all finished, you can’t really discern the cloves, maybe just a distant hint. Then you make a soupy kind of mixture with onions, garlic, cumin, ground ginger, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, canned diced tomatoes, fish stock (or bottled clam juice), parsley, cilantro and lemon juice.  All that gives the lentil mixture a scrumptious taste. You can eat them by themselves. Or add more broth and eat it as soup. I used some half-sharp paprika I bought in Budapest on our last trip, and I had diced tomatoes with green chiles, so perhaps the lentils were hotter than the original recipe intended. But I really like it. If you’re sensitive to heat, just don’t use any hot sauce at all.

Joanne had used gorgeous, thick salmon when we sampled it at the cooking class. I had small, thin wild salmon, so it’s maybe not as spectacular looking as she might have made it. I don’t buy farm-raised salmon anymore except on very rare occasions. If you have thicker salmon, by all means pile the top with more herb salad than I did. The salmon is very simply pan sautéed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. The hot lentil mixture goes onto a hot plate first, then the sizzling-hot salmon fillet, and an herb salad – arugula, parsley, basil and mint (more like a generous pile strategically placed right in the center) goes on top. Serve immediately! Joanne recommends serving it with Sauvignon Blanc, although my cooking class notes say Pinot Noir. We had the latter since we’re red wine drinkers.

This dish has lots of character – meaning that there are plenty of layers of flavor. The spicy lentils are one thing – and as long as you don’t overcook them, they have lots of tender chewiness to them. Then there’s the salmon. And the herby salad on top with a lemon-centric dressing, adds another layer of flavor and texture too. So if you have big salmon fillets, do make more salad and its accompanying dressing.
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A year ago: Bouillabaise
Two years ago: Fennel Fritters (oh these were tasty morsels, mellow, delicious)

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