Squash, Glorious Squash

I've come to see squash of all kinds as a comfort food in the fall. Its an incredibly versatile ingredient, one that can be used in sweet and savory dishes, can be hidden amongst other ingredients or showcased as a star. The recipes below are some of my new favorites.

Indian-Spiced Roasted Squash Soup
I sent this soup home with a for a friend whose family was ill. She reported back that her three boys (ages from 6-12) gobbled it up.

Ingredients

• 1 Onion, quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped thickly
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 acorn squash, quartered
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped thickly
• olive oil
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp cayanne pepper
• 4 C + Chicken Stock
• salt to taste
  
• Greek yogurt, to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 500
• Arrange veggies on a jelly roll pan in a single layer
• Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Roast for 30 minutes, until veggies are tender turning once
• Cool
• Peel squash and discard skins and any other burned items
• Puree veggie mixture in food processor, adding chicken stock as needed to keep mixture moving
• When the mixture is at the desired consistency, scrape it into a large saucepan
  
• Add spices and more stock to thin the mixture out; bring to a boil
• Add scoops of greek yogurt and salt to taste
• Serve (you may want to puree further using an immersion blender for a totally smooth consistency)
  

Smokey Beef and Squash Chili
Clint had a grand old time making the Chili over our fire-pit on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, cooking over a fire-pit is not a "must have" element to this dish. Simmering over the stove for a number of hours will do just fine.

Ingredients

• Canola Oil
• 1 1/2 + lbs chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• smoked salt, or salt + liquid smoke
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 Tbl tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can diced green chiles
  
• 1 Bottle Beer
• Beef Stock, as needed
  
• Dash Cayenne Pepper
  
• Handful of Oregano
• Dash of Red Chili Flakes
• Handful of cumin
• Pinch coriander
• Pinch cinnamon
• 1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can of Kidney Beans, rinsed

Directions

• Heath dutch oven, add 2 turns of oil
• Sprinkle beef with salt and add to pan; saute until browned on all sides; remove beef
• Add onion and bell pepper to pan, saute 3 min.
• Add tomato paste, garlic and green chilies to pan, stirring constantly
• Add beer and beef stock as needed and bring to boil; cook 2 minutes; return beef to pan
• Stir in spices and rest of ingredient through beans; bring to a boil
• Cover and reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour or until beef is tender
• Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream
  

Mimi's Persimmon Pudding

Mimi was what my brother and I called my Mom's mom, LaVerne. She was a wonderful lady in so many ways and I have great kitchen memories of her and her cooking. One of my all time favorite kitchen memories is of her Persimmon Pudding, a pudding/brownie like concoction that she would make every fall. When I was little, I was so in love with this dish that I would sneak into her fridge where she kept the 9x13 pan to gobble up servings of it when she wasn't looking. I even remembering using the food mill to process the sticky, weird fruit into a pulp. Persimmons, for those of you who don't know, is an edible fruit (actually a berry) from a species of tree in the ebony wood family. Traditionally found in the far east, the American Persimmon is native to the eastern United States. The flesh is mushy and the texture is unique. See this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

I still have an obsession with persimmon pudding and make it every fall in honor of my Mimi. While I can eat it cold, I find that it is best served warm with a bit of Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream on top. There are lots of Persimmon pudding recipes running around Indiana, but to me, this is the best!

Ingredients:

• 2 C persimmon pulp
• 1 C milk
• 1/2 C melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 C flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 C sugar
  
• Dash Cinnamon
• Dash Nutmeg
• Dash Allspice
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
  
• Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl
• Mix wet ingredients together in another bowl
• Add wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until just combined
• Pour into an ungreased 9x 13 pan
• Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes, until set in the middle