Countering the Cucurbit Crisis: Sqaushing My Squash Squimishness and Other Fall Goodies
In the words of the great Moose A. Moose…I feel like I’m falling for fall. (If you can identify the song…you have little people infesting your home too.)
I have finally learned to appreciate the bounty of autumn. I have mastered the art of the world’s easiest butternut soup, narcoleptic cat easy. You simply steam them in the nuker in pyrex until they are soft, mix them with stock, salt, pepper, and buttermilk. Puree the whole shabang up with an immersion blender, the coolest kitchen gadget EVER, and you have some tasty creamy healthy fall soup. (You can actually use any cucurbit you have rolling around.)
Still tripping over squash…nuke ‘em up like noted above and add them to your cheese sauce for a tasty quasi-nutritious mac & cheese. Create your reg. light roux…fat&flour browned for a minute. (I like butter and a little King Arthur’s white but any fat and flour will do.) Add a little mustard, either fresh or powdered. Add your milk and bring to a slight boil. Toss in shredded cheese. Then add your pureed steamed squash. (Puree the squash before adding because pureeing with the cheese makes for a weird texture.) Pour over whatever noodle you have on hand, or even rice and bake the bad boy until crispy on top.
A taste of summer…coleslaw made with fall cabbage, dicon radish, and apples. Shred it all up, add salt, and pepper,a little mayo, and a little white vinegar. Beyond tasty.
Leftover apples and pears…although they go pretty fast in the land of baby chimps. Cook them down into tasty apple/pear sauce to put with pancakes or even to bake with. (Applesauce can replace veggie oil in many quick bread recipes. Another way to localfy your ingredients.) Or use Green Bean’s fantastic rhubarb tart recipe and just replace the rhubarb with whatever fall fruits you have on hand.
Besides being nutritious, local, seasonal, and delicious…I am also finding these dishes are quite budget friendly. If you haven’t joined a CSA keep it in mind for the next season. Not only will you be supporting sustainable agriculture in your neighborhood, but you will be forcing yourself to learn about food and seasons and, perhaps, saving yourself a little green.
Isn’t it funny how watching one’s retirement plan go from escaping to a small remote tropical island to living in a small trailer on Long Island makes one appreciate a cheap meal? Maybe it’s just me.
Retirement Vision Before Stock Market Crash
Retirement Vision After Stock Market Crash
Thanks for the squash recipes. I bought a bunch on impulse at the farmer’s market and wasn’t sure what to do with them besides mash them with marshmallows or douse them with brown sugar, Midwestern style. The soul sounds lovely, I’ll try it tonight!
Oh blast! Now that song is stuck in my head. Oh, no, wait. It’s actually playing on the TV right now.
So here’s my question about squash (like butternut or acorn) – is the skin okay to eat? Did you use the skin in your soup recipe or just the flesh? (BTW aren’t skin and flesh the same thing, at least on people?)
I guess if we regularly made soup out of people we would need clearer directions! I do not use the skin. Once the squash is fully steamed you can just use a spoon to scoop out all the soft stuff. The skin remains like paper…not a nice texture.
esp…you can also steam them up, scoop them out, and freeze the puree for future soup or pie.