I steamed and boiled (half a huge squash in the water, half in the steaming basket above, too big to put in whole) a squash for about 30 minutes. It would have gone faster if I'd remembered to turn on the gas as well as the timer, so I had to redo the 30 minutes. This is what happens when your mind is on art and stitching.
However, moving right along, I peeled the steamed/boiled halves, and chunked them up. If I were a tv cook, they would have had to redo this part of the program. Except that if I were a tv cook, there would be assistants ready to turn on the gas and do the timer. And a food stylist to make the results look amazingly, and unreally, good. Back to my solo kitchen now, dreaming done.
One of the halves is in the freezer labeled ready for soup. The other half I used in a noodle recipe. Egg noodles, mixed with the cooked squash which had been tossed in an array of spices, which worked really well.
The picture shows the chorus line of condiments, the big container being kosher salt, the unlabeled one baharat spice mix from the Jerusalem book, and you can see the others. White pepper there, with sumac and nutmeg. The baharat mix already had nutmeg, so I knew this would go okay, and it should have had sumac which I didn't have at the time, so I knew that was okay to add, too.
Little knob of butter stirred in to the hot mixture.
And four dinners resulted.
I'm always interested in spices and because you introduced me to the Jerusalem book I became interested in Sumac as a spice. Thought it was a weed. Anyway, since the sumac is now ready to be harvested, am currently in the process of making my own sumac spice. After hours of gruelling work I have a tiny amount of spice (less than quarter of a cup) as the end product to date and still a bunch of sumac "fruit" to go, if I can get them dried. An educational experience probably not to be repeated.
ReplyDeleteOne of those lifetime experiences! Before Jerusalem I thought sumac was poisonous!
ReplyDeleteMmmmm.....squash. We had peanut squash for supper tonight. First time we've tried one of those and they will be added to the list of good ones.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are getting a respite from the potatoes :)
ReplyDeleteI love winter squash of all types. I picked my biggest butternut squash yesterday - the one that grew on the fence. It is a thing of beauty. By February, I may break down and eat it. Until then, lots of smaller winter squashes already harvested, and a few little ones still on the vine. I hear we may get frost this weekend, so soon I'll be harvesting every little thing remaining, including the drying pole beans, so I can take down the fence. The moment the goats have been waiting for!
Yum
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