Topic: Recipes
I've had a plate of delicious sauteed squash three nights in a row. How this came about: A mother in the group of homeschoolers I'm giving an art class to came dragging in a milk crate full of squashes. They're from my husbands garden and no one likes them but him. What kind are they I asked the young son. That's buttercup and thats peanutbutternut squash. No, such a thing doesn't exist! Well....I think so...? What is this? That's acorn and that's butternut. No, acorn is shaped like an acorn with ribs. Well that's butternut there. OK...I took home one of each. My Joy of Cooking told me the 'acorn' was buttercup or turban? and the 'peanutbutter' was butternut. But I was too hungry to go through the trouble of cooking squash. It would have to wait. The next day on NPR someone did a piece with a famous New York City chef known for his Italian cooking and restaurants, Making a Meal With Mario Batali They went shopping at the market, the reporter watched him prepare antipasto while giving his tips and philosophies on cooking and food. And then he gave me my answer. He told how important it was to use things at hand and foods that are freshest wherever you happen to be shopping. One could go into the grocery store and find a pumpkin now and do with it just what he'd done with the warm antipasto he'd just cooked: dice it up, and throw it in the pan with some oil, (olive oil?!), sautee til done and put a little seasoning on it. Perfect, that can work as well with peanutbutternut squash as with pumpkin. That evening I chopped off a hunk of the squash, sliced it into 3/4" slices, easily cut out the seeds, peeled it with the same knife (easily done when squash is in slices), and diced into bite size pieces. Olive oil? I didn't remember if he'd actually said that but he'd used it on the other food and that was all I had. Go ahead, try it, a puddle about 3" by 1 1/2" into the heated pan. Careful not to smoke. Throw in the squash when oil is hot. Toss the squash in the oil so it gets coated. Heat is low medium flame, where it browns but doesn't burn except after a long time. Stir around a few times in the initial stages, then cover and let brown a bit, stir periodically to let other areas cook and/or brown. I don't remember how long it took, 20-25 minutes? I kept testing til I thought the squash was soft enough. Tonight I got involved with something else and cooked a lot longer - I let it blacken and caramelize (pan roasted). When cooked, season with sugar and salt. I used about 1/2 t. sugar and a good sprinkle of salt for this plateful, which was 1/3 of the squash. And yes, the olive oil worked fine - this was the best squash I ever had, and so easy.
Posted by Catinka Knoth
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 9 December 2006 4:27 PM EST
