Winter Squash Pangrattoto

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Four Cooking Together

Serves 4
This dish from Nigel Slater’s Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch marries delectably soft squash with crunchy breadcrumbs, aromatic rosemary and bright orange zest.

Ingredients:

2 pounds butternut squash
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more
One mild red chile, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
Zest of one half orange
One handful chopped parsley leaves
4 handfuls fresh white breadcrumbs
3 Tablespoons butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Peel squash and discard seeds. Cut flesh into uniformly sized pieces about ¾ inch. Steam squash over boiling water until tender, about 15 min.
Heat olive oil in a pan on medium. Add garlic, chile, rosemary and orange zest. Stir lightly then add parsley and breadcrumbs. Cook until crumbs color lightly.
Put squash into a shallow baking dish. Add salt and pepper, and butter in small knobs. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake for 35-40 min until crumbs are deep gold and pumpkin is meltingly tender.

Root Vegetable Korma

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Four Cooking Together

Korma is a creamy, rich vegetable stew — Indian comfort food worthy of a dinner party, but easy to throw together for mid-week supper as well. This version comes from Nigel Slater’s fabulous cookbook come memoir, Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch. Serve with rice or naan (in the frozen section at Trader Joe’s).

Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds mixed roots: parsnip, rutabaga, carrot, turnip, potato or such
2/3 cup cashews
6 green cardamom pods
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, peeled and minced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, coarsely grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons turmeric
½ teaspoon chile powder
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 small green chiles, thinly sliced
2/3 cup cream
2/3 cup plain yogurt
Chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

Peel and cut the vegetables into uniformly sized cubes, ¾ inch or so.
Coarsely chop half the cashews. Toast the whole cashews in a small dry skillet until spotted in areas with golden brown.
Open cardamom pods. Remove seeds. Crush with a mortar and pestle into a gritty powder.
Warm the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan and stir in the onions. Cook until soft, but not colored. Add the ginger and garlic and cook over gentle heat for a couple of minutes. Add the cardamom, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chile powder and cinnamon stick. Cook the spices for a few minutes until their fragrance is noticeable.
Add the vegetables, chopped nuts and chiles. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 3 cups water, partially cover with a lid and simmer gently for 45 minutes until roots are tender.
Carefully add the cream and yogurt to the pan, letting them heat through, but not boil (or the mixture will curdle). Check the seasoning and add more salt or pepper as needed. Scatter the toasted nuts and some chopped cilantro on top before serving.

Gnarly yet Sweet

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Four Cooking Together

Parsnips are under appreciated vegetables: gnarly and mottled with dirty brown smudges — a bit odd looking to attract anyone but a mother’s love. They have an ancient, elfin air, like something pulled straight out of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, which doesn’t help their cause much. Ask diners and cooks alike about this ghostly carrot doppelganger, and you’ll receive a blank stare. Parsnip is not a vegetable on the Safeway circuit, and given the choice, most shoppers will eagerly select its cleaner, prettier, more familiar cousin (the orange carrot) instead.

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Roast Parsnips

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Four Cooking Together

This recipe is adapted from Nigel Slater’s fantastic cookbook, Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch. Steaming the parsnips before roasting in a moderate oven keeps them moist and tender. Slater suggests using duck drippings instead of oil and butter, so substitute if you like.

Ingredients:

1 pound parsnips
Olive oil or peanut oil or a mixture of melted butter and oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Peel parsnips, cut into fat lumps of uniform size and steam in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes.
Dry to remove any water, then toss with oil (or oil and butter) to coat. Place on a baking sheet and roast for forty-five minutes or so until tender and golden brown on the outside (approaching black in spots, here or there). Turn once or twice during cooking.
Season with salt and pepper.
As a variation, add some onions into the pan with fresh thyme sprigs and a drizzle of maple syrup or after the roots come out of the oven dress with honey, sherry vinegar and toasted sesame seeds.

Meatless Thursday

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Four Cooking Together

In a vegetarian household, Thanksgiving can be a tricky holiday. From a food perspective, this is a day centered on meat — an oversized bird typically raised on a farm, though wild turkey is indigenous in parts of this country. If you live near me you’ll see them foraging in the woods from time-to-time.

Most folks expect the dinner plate on Thanksgiving to feature some form of turkey — homemade pumpkin ravioli or a savory vegetable gratin may not suffice as the main course. Don’t waste your energy. Save those dishes for the weekend.

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