Sun 9 Nov, 2008
I got two butternut squashes from the farmers market yesterday. They were $2.50. I only actually used half of one of them for two recipes.
Both recipes came from http://bread-and-honey.blogspot.com. I had never tried to make a butternut squash curry before, it seemed like an odd idea. The soup seemed almost natural, and came out tastier than I expected.
I also made a salad involving tomatoes of every color. Wish I had a picture now. I had green zebra tomatoes, lemon finger tomatoes, chocolate tomatoes, and some italian red tomatoes that I actually forget the variety of now. Some cucumbers, some bell peppers, and some balsamic, very basic yet still tasty. Bell peppers and cucumbers are strangely cheap at the farmers market ($2 for five bell peppers, $2 for two cucumbers or $1/pound).
Salad:
- Two large cucumbers.
- Tomatoes of every color I could find at the farmers market
- A large bell pepper
- Balsamic vinegar
Chop up and stir together. That’s about it! Actually no I think a hair of salt was added.
The other two were much more involved. I baked the squash, potatoes, garlic, carrots, onions, and a couple peppers all at once before starting.
Soup:
- 1/4 squash
- Several potatoes
- A small bulb of garlic
- Half an anaheim pepper
- Half an onion (sorry to these folks)
- Carrots
- Some powdered chicken boullion
- Lots of water
- Salt and pepper
I followed their recommendation of “when baking, drizzle everything in olive oil and salt”. They are right in that it makes everything tasty. After baking everything, I boiled a small amount of water and threw in the boullion. Actually, I threw in all the ingredients, wandering around the house looking for anything else that needed eating before it became icky. Then I scooped the ingredients out of the boiling water, into the blender, added more water (not from the pot), blended, and back into the pot. Since not all the ingredients could fit in the blender, I did this process about five times
The curry was a bit more involved, but not much, not really.
- 1/4 Butternut squash
- One small summer squash
- Block of tofu
- One clove of garlic (normally I’d do much more, but being as there is a bulb in the soup, I decided against it)
- The rest of the onion
- A small can of coconut milk
- A bell pepper
- A spoonful of Patak’s curry paste
- Two arbol peppers
This was easy, just saute onions, garlic, peppers in olive oil. When the oil has those flavors, cube the tofu, and sizzle as much as possible. When you’re convinced the tofu won’t cook anymore, put in the coconut milk.Turn the heat down, and add water if the coconut milk gets too thick. Stir in the curry paste, and add all the other vegetables. Let the glodge cook until you are satisfied (I generally just let the veggies get as hot as the rest of the food, you may want to add them before adding coconut milk). Serve with rice.
Edit: I can’t believe I forgot to mention this! After curry paste, but before veggies, get the mushiest chunks of the butternut squash. Mash them up into the coconut milk/curry paste mixture. It makes for a creamy yummy tasty curry sauce. You can leave some of the squash as chunks, or not, as you like, I mushed all of my chunks up into the coconut milk.
The original recipe calls for Thai curry paste, but I used Indian curry paste, mainly because I found myself lacking Thai curry paste at the last moment. It didn’t matter-it still came out very tasty. The only thing I’d suggest is a more serious vegetable-the summer squash was as white as the tofu, I’d recommend a broccoli or red cabbage or something.
Steel Phoenix says:
I love the Butternut curry idea. I’m going to have to try that. This sounds like enough to feed…err…overload about two people? I bet it was a colorful meal, especially with the rainbow of tomatoes.
stanza says:
@Steel Phoenix
The curry fed three and I had enough for two lunches after. The soup fed three, and I had enough for two people for two lunches after.
The salad was colorful! The curry and the soup were not. Like I said, get some brightly colored veggies in there. You could try bell peppers, purple and green cabbage, carrots, so many options….
The one thing I forgot to mention was that you mush the butternut squash into the coconut milk! I can’t believe I forgot to mention that. It makes the “sauce”, and is very rich and tasty.
Raven says:
I’d try the curry, but I think Tom would look at it oddly. It seems to dairy-free, though, so perhaps I shall invite Amanda for dinner.
…Also, apropos of nothing, I liked the black theme better.
stanza says:
@Raven
Ignore odd looks is my advice.
I’ve been playing with the theme a bit; expect it to change. It might go back to the black theme.
awurrlu says:
mmm, the curry sounds good. are heirloom tomatoes still in season there????
stanza says:
I’m not sure if it’s fair to say that “they are still in season”, but they are still readily available at the farmers market. And the prices on them haven’t radically changed–though I’m not sure what that tells you.