Quick Dinners From a Can (or "pumkin curry soup in a flash for those days")

Being home with a sick little boy today, I didn't get a lot done that I'd hoped to, but I did get to catch up on all the produce in my fridge that was desperately needing using up. What to do with all the beets and radishes  just about to go south? I started a beet kimchee ferment, if it turns out I'll post about it here soon. (I love fermenting!) I composted some stuff too, I have to admit, but I caught the cauliflower *just* before it was going to go off, thank goodness! Now I had to find something to do with it.

I discover cauliflower pretty late in life, as in, about three years ago. I was raised without it being a part of my diet and as an adult I just never discovered it until my mid-30s. Now I can't believe that, as it is one of my favorite vegetables. Most people think I am nuts when I say that, but its really true. So what did I do with this sad looking head of cauliflower? (This isn't the actual one I had, like I said, I had a sick kid at home with me, so I forgot to take my own pics. My cauliflower looked worse.)

I trimmed off the browning bits, then cut it up into florets and roasted it.

Roasted Cauliflower
1 big head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 T olive oil
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp tumeric
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss all the ingredients into a big bowl, stir until the cauliflower is well coated with all the other ingredients. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on metal cookie sheets and cook for 15 minutes, then stir, and return to the oven. Check it again in 10 more minutes, it should be starting to brown on the edges, that's a *good* thing. Stir again and return to the oven if not yet browned on many of its edges. Once browned, remove from the oven and let cool. It should look like this (again, not my pic):

Now I was running out of time, I was getting hungry and my partner would be home for dinner soon. What to do? Aha! My 15 min pumpkin curry soup! I had roasted up some winter squash already earlier in the day, but I've made this with canned pumpkin or butternut squash and it works great. Its a go-to fall meal for me for when I have no time to cook but want dinner to still be pretty healthy.

15 Min Pumpkin Curry Squash Soup
2 tsp cooking oil of your choice or ghee
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced (or tsp or so of garlic powder in you are in a real rush)
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, minced
2 T curry powder blend of your choice
1 can coconut milk (lite or regular)
1 can (16oz) of pumpkin or butternut squash puree, plain
Vegetable broth

Put the oil or ghee in a soup pot, heat on med-high flame, then add the onion. Stir and cook until the onion is pretty soft, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger, keep stirring and cooking 2-3 minutes more, then add the curry spice and stir to coat the onion for 1 minute. Pour the can of coconut milk into the pot and stir, scraping up any bits of the curry that got stuck to the pan. Add the pureed squash and mix well, then add veggie broth (or chicken for those who enjoy it) until its a consistency you like. Heat through. Done!

If you have the time, you can add broth until the soup is thinner than you like and then add 1/2 cup red lentils (has to be *red* ones, they cook up fast) and simmer the soup until the lentils have softened, about 10 minutes. Add more broth as needed until the lentils are done.

Here's where the cauliflower comes in:  put your lovely, tasty, easy-as-heck soup in bowls, then top with a big handful or two of your roasted cauliflower. Don't stir it in, just serve like that, its prettier that way, you can stir it in when you go to eat. Want to get really fancy? Serve with lime wedges and fresh minced cilantro. Didn't have time to do the cauliflower? No problem, serve with crusty bread, leftover rice, leftover quinoa, or as is!

Healthy and a heck of a lot cheaper than going out!

Autumn Returns

You always know it is coming, but still, fall always takes me by surprise, especially after a summer as wicked as the one we've had this year. The summer was very early, very hot, and there was a bad drought. It was the kind of summer you couldn't wait to put behind you, but also the kind you began to wonder if would ever end.

But end it did, and with pretty timing too. Just a day or so before the autumnal equinox, on came the cool cool nights. Walking with E to the farmer's market around 7:30 this morning, we were bundled in fleece-lined hoodies and knit hats, and our fingers and noses got quite cold. The first very fall market of the year I cannot resist all the autumn vegetables. After getting E his muffin from the Muffin Man, we rounded up some red cabbage, green beans, turnips, salad green, new potatoes, and winter squash. Most of the veggies went into a basic vegetable stew, but the winter squash I had other plans for. Potluck plans.

For E's 1st birthday, years back now, I went a bit nuts and made a lot of food for everyone. I love making up food for parties, but back then we were broke, I was working constantly, and E was a high-demands kid. It really was nuts, but maybe getting to do something I take so much pleasure in actually helped keep me sane. It was for that party that I made up the Winter Squash Spread, based on a vague memory of my friend Jessy making some sort of butternut squash spread for pizza when we both worked in a natural food store kitchen together. From this experiment the Squash Spread was born.

I always make it with butternut squash and it always comes out perfect. This time, I let the beauty of a red kuri squash lure me in and I used it instead. I'd never had a red kuri before and the flavor of the flesh was wonderful, but it had a grainier and drier texture than a butternut and it showed in the end results. I'd recommend using the butternut for this, it can't be beat.

Winter Squash Potluck Spread

1 medium butternut squash
2 bulbs of garlic
2 T grapeseed oil (or other oil that does well at high heat)
2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
1 cup raw hazelnuts
salt and black pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Chop the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out all the stingy guts and seeds, place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Break the bulbs of garlic into cloves and remove all the papery bits. Put half of the garlic cloves in the cavity of one squash half, the rest of the garlic in the cavity of the other half of the squash. Flip the squash halves over onto the baking tray with the garlic trapped between the squash and the pan. Poke the backs of both squash halves with a knife in a couple of places, this will allow the releasing of steam and help the squash cook more evenly. Bake for 45 minutes, then prick with a fork, if it slides in easily the squash is done, otherwise check again every 7-10 minutes until done.

While the squash cooks, place the hazelnuts on another baking tray with sides so they don't slide off and place in the oven for 3-5 minutes. The hazelnuts should become fragrant and darken just a tad. Take them out of the oven and pour them onto a dry dish towel. Let cool until just cool enough to handle the nuts in the towel, then use the towel to agitate and rub the hazelnuts, loosening their skins until most fall off. Don't worry about getting them all off, but you do want to get off as much of the skins as is possible without tons of effort. Put the nuts sans most of their skins in the food processor and process until very fine.

Put 1T of the oil in a skillet and add the onions over medium-low heat. Toss in the onion, stir in the oil, then turn down to low heat. Stir every few minutes and allow the onion to slowly caramelize. This process will take around 20 minutes to complete, the onions should be tender and lightly browned all over. Add the onions to the food processor bowl.

Once the squash is done cooking let it cook until you can touch it safely, then flip it over. Put the garlic in the food processor bowl, then scrape the flesh of the squash out of the skin and into the food processor bowl as well. Add salt and pepper, then process until very smooth.

Serve with baguette or pita chips, or use as a spread on pizza in place of the usual tomato sauce. If you have left overs you can thin it with a bit of broth and serve it with bread as a soup the next day. The soup freezes well for future use.

I feel silly, but I forgot to take a picture of the pretty end product all gussied up in one of my spouse's handmade pottery bowls. Ah well, trust me, it turns out a lovely golden color. Put it in a pretty bowl, put the bowl on a large place, and surround the bowl with your chips or bread slices, and then head off to your potluck party! Trust me, you'll be getting requests for the recipe for this tasty and healthy nosh!