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Spaghetti squash and vegetable ragout, confit garlic and roast tomatoes
Jan 18th
It’s cold, it’s rainy, and I’m tired. I also have virtually no groceries in the house. Now I need to be a little creative.
Here’s what’s in the fridge:
Spaghetti Squash
Zucchini
Carrots
Garlic
Artichokes
Tomato sauce
Garlic Mushrooms
Caramelized onions
Grape Tomatoes
These grape tomatoes are grim looking. They’re wrinkled and dry, so what better way to use up than roasting. Preheat your oven to 325F, put the tomatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30-45 minutes or until somewhat dry.
Grape tomatoes drizzled in olive oil and seasoned. Ready for roasting.
Cut the ends off the squash – carefully. Cut it lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Place it on a microwave safe plate cut side down, and microwave on high for 7 minutes. Remove when done, let cool, and with a fork, scoop out the strands of squash.
Place a few garlic cloves and olive oil into a small pan or pot. Cover, or nearly cover the garlic with oil. Heat over medium low heat for about 15 minutes. Do not let burn. Remove when garlic cloves are soft and golden brown.
Shread carrots and zucchini, or cut into spaghetti like strips with a mandoline.
Cooked spaghetti squash, julienne zucchini and carrot
Heat your tomato sauce in a pan, add carrots and simmer briefly. Add zucchini after about 2 minutes. Simmer 30 seconds, and add precooked mushrooms, roasted garlic.
Heat up a little butter in a pan, toss in the squash, season. Sautee to reheat. Add your ragout. Garnish with basil, confit garlic, roast tomatoes, and garlic oil.
Spaghetti squash and vegetable ragout, confit garlic and roast tomatoes
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Butternut squash and zucchini curry with fresh spices
Jan 11th
This dish may not be traditional, but I tried to build it using some traditional Indian cooking techniques. Now, when I say ‘Indian cooking’, I realize that it is a huge country, with countless regional culinary variations. This dish is probably closest to west Indian, Gujurat or Rajastani food – hot, vegetarian, flavorful, and mildly sweet.
There is no curry powder used here, only fresh ground or whole spices. This gives the cook the ability to adjust the dish as needed. Its hard to screw up a curry dish, since you can always correct it as you go. The only golden rule is to never burn your spices. Keep watching your heat.
| Ingredients: |
| 2 tbsp vegetable oil |
| 3 red chilies |
| 4 green cardamom |
| 3 inches cinnamon stick |
| 1 1/2 tbsp cumin seed |
| 2 tsp fennel seed |
| 1 white onion, diced |
| 2 tsp ground ginger |
| 4 cloves minced garlic |
| 1 tbsp ground coriander |
| 1 tsp turmeric |
| 1 cup of diced tomatoes or halved grape tomatoes |
| 1 cup zucchini |
| 1 cup cream or omit for a lower fat version |
| 1 cup butternut squash diced |
| sprinkle of dried fenugreek leaves |
| 1 tbsp yogurt |
| brown sugar to taste |
| Fresh coriander for garnish |
Before proceeding, heat up a pot of salted water. Peel and dice the butternut squash and blanch it until soft, probably 4 minutes if diced into 1 inch cubes, less time for smaller cuts.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat until it begins to shimmer.
- Break off the stem of your red chilies and crack them in half. This way they wont explode and splatter you with oil. Sautee them until the skin begins to crackle.
- Add cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Let toast in the pan for about 60 seconds.
- Add the cumin seed and toast it until you can smell the toasty lemony scent.
- Add fennel seed and toast.
- Add onion and cook until translucent.
- Add garlic and ginger, saute briefly.
- Add coriander, turmeric
- Toss in the tomatoes and briefly cook out
- Add zucchini and cook briefly, then add cream and cook over medium heat until thickened.
- Add your blanched and drained butternut squash.
- Sweeten with brown sugar, and finish with yogurt if you wish.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
Now, I know that seems like a long recipe, but once you do it once, it really becomes the same old flow over and over. The summary – toast and saute your spices, add your aromatics [onions, ginger, garlic], build sauce with tomatoes/cream/whatever, add veg, finish and plate. The plating would have been nicer, but I had to clean up a major spill in the kitchen while cooking.
Building the sauce, tomatoes added
Almost done, cook the zucchini
Add the butternut squash to reheat it
Finished and plated
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