Remembering the good stuff: 2011 – the food

Fava Beans

This year we started getting a farm box and have enjoyed trying a number of fruits and veggies that were new to me. My fava bean post was a featured post on BlogHer (quite a thrill for me). And I no longer fear the butternut squash. I also wrapped turnips in bacon, and found a great way to make a flavorful stir fry.

The farm box will continue this year, but less frequently. Even the small box is a bit too much for just us two. We’re now getting a box every other week instead of every week and still have more than enough and a freezer full of prepped vegetables.

Peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast

Eating out in 2011 was the year of the breakfast. A highlight was a re-visit to Pt. Hudson Cafe and their stellar bacon cheddar waffles. I chased the chicken and waffle craze to the Front Porch in San Francisco and have hopes to get to 900 Grayson in Berkeley sometime soon. In San Diego I developed an obscene love for the peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast at Cafe 222. I still think it is possibly a perfect meal: Peanut butter + Banana all melted and gooey between egg soaked toasted bread – you’ve got your protein and fruit and grains, right? Perfect.

Crock pot butternut squash curry – and how to cut up a butternut squash.

Stem end - butternut squash

I used to fear these gourds. I didn’t have nightmares about them or anything, but I had no Idea where to start. When I got one in my farm box I knew the time had come to face my fear. Luckily they keep for a good long time because I stared at it on the counter for a couple of weeks. I knew I liked butternut squash in soup and ravioli. But I’d always had it at restaurants or from the chef at work.

I didn’t know how to get to the orange-y cubes of goodness.

Squash2kinds

So I finally just took the thing into work and asked the chef. She started with: “Well, first you cut it in half, and then…”
I had to stop her there. That was the problem: “how do I cut it in half?” To get equal halves I would need to cut it lengthwise, right? But that seemed scary. I could just see myself slipping with the knife and cutting my fingers in half along with the squash. Or having it slip out from under the knife and fly across the room while I land face first into the blade. You see why I was scared of the thing. It was trying to maim me!

But Chef Susan said “No.” She said that she would cut it right at its waist, before it starts to bulb out. After I did that, she told me it would be easier to peel.

And she was right!

After I peeled it, then I halved it again. This time lengthwise and scooped the seeds and gunk.

After that it easily cut in the pretty cubes like in the above picture. And there was no slipping or maiming or blood. Bonus!

Cut up it was put into the crock pot with some tomatoes, onions, carrots, garbanzo beans and curry spices. I left it to cook for 7 hours on low, stirred, then spooned it over couscous. It turned out to be a hearty meatless meal.

Here’s the full recipe:

4 cups cubed butternut squash
26 oz chopped tomatoes with juice (I used Pomi)
2 carrots cut into chunks
1 white onion halved and sliced.
2 Tbs curry powder
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 (15 oz) cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained.
3 garlic cloves minced.

Hot cooked couscous

Place butternut squash in a 4-quart electric slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients (through garlic) in a bowl and spoon over squash. Cover with lid and cook on low setting for 7 hours. You could stir in cilantro at the end or top with plain yogurt if you have it. Serve over hot cooked couscous.

If you’d like it with more kick (depending on how hot your curry powder) you can add 1/4 tsp or more of cayenne pepper.

Quick and easy veggie dish : a non-recipe recipe

Beginning  of easy stir fry

We’re still getting our CSA and tomorrow is our delivery so I quickly wanted to use up what we had left from the last box, especially the baby bok choi since that is a veggie I have never used in my cooking.

I thought a quick veggie stir fry would be perfect but I didn’t feel like doing a whole sauce recipe search. I cut up the bok choi and the carrots and a yellow bell pepper to start.

Broccoli and red peppers from CSA box

I saved the broccoli and red pepper for last so they’d stay crisper.

Then I added Paul Newman’s Sesame Ginger salad dressing! I love the soy, ginger, sesame combo on raw veggies – why not cooked? I added a little less than half a cup to a 12 inch skillet full of veggies that had already partially steamed.

Bubbling stir fry

I let it bubble and reduce a bit before adding the final veggies and that was it. DH gave it a big thumbs up.