Winter Squash Green Curry

Oh my goodness, this is good. I only recently learned that the term "curry" just means a combination of spices. This combination of herbs and spices is all fresh (well, nearly) - no curry powder, no pre-prepared curry paste - you make your own. This is SOOO tasty and so worth the effort. I will absolutely be making this again. The recipe says it serves four, but my husband and I had it 3 times with some still left in the freezer. This makes it economical in addition to being super tasty.

This dish features, mushrooms, eggplant, tofu (though you could substitute chicken or some other form of meat), and of course, butternut squash. I used those long, skinny Asian eggplant for this dish. I found them at my local Asian market. They sometimes come in my CSA box, too. I'm sure any eggplant will do. I must admit that I am only beginning to get comfortable with eggplant, but it blended perfectly into this dish and I didn't even really know it was there. The real star of this dish is the homemade curry paste and the coconut milk. YUM!

Let's Get Started

Before you make your own super-fresh curry paste, you should start some rice cooking and prep your veggies. (I put a few slices of ginger into my rice, which turned out very nicely.)

Pour 1 and 1/2 cups boiling water over 8 dried shiitake mushrooms. (Dried shiitakes were ridiculously expensive, so I bought fresh since they happened to be there. I paid only $1.32 for 10 shiitakes. Since the recipe called for the soaking liquid later on, I decided to clean the mushrooms and then pour hot water over them to have some broth to use later in the recipe. It worked.) Quarter 2 long skinny eggplants (6 oz. each) and cut them into 1/2 inch dice. Sprinkle with salt and set them in a colander to drain. Peel 1 small butternut squash (1 1/4 pounds or so), scoop out and discard the seeds and inner pulp, and cut it into 3/4 inch chunks.

While the mushrooms are soaking and the eggplant is expelling water, you can get started on the curry paste. (I actually made this several hours in advance of preparing the rest of the meal, though it didn't actually take that long, especially with a food processor.) Just put all the following ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste. Add extra lime juice or water to loosen up the mixture if necessary:

• 3 or 4 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 -2 inch knob of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 stalks lemon grass, just the tender centers
• 3-4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 2 shallots (1/3 cup), chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (it's fine to include the stems in this)
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 2 t. ground coriander
• 1 t. salt
• zest and juice of one lime (Limes were really expensive and I had lemons on my tree, so I used those instead)

Once you have the curry paste prepared and waiting in the wings, remove the mushrooms from their soaking water, squeeze them out, and save the soaking water. Cut them into wide strips, discarding any tough stems. Rinse the eggplant and blot it dry.

Heat 1 T. oil (I used olive oil, but the recipe calls for peanut oil) in a wide skillet. Add the eggplant and turn it quickly in the oil to coat all pieces. Cook over medium-high heat just to brown the cut surface, 4 to 5 minutes. Open one can of coconut milk and have it standing by.

In a large dutch oven (big pot), heat 2 T. oil. Add the squash and cook over medium-high heat, turning every so often, until caramelized in places. After several minutes, add the eggplant, reduce the heat to medium. Pour in one can coconut milk, the mushroom soaking water, the mushrooms, and 2/3 of the curry paste. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the squash is tender, by which time the sauce will have lost its color.

While that is cooking, drain one block of tofu and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Juice one lime and have 6-8 thai basil leaves standing by.

After the 15 minutes are up, add the tofu and basil leaves, then simmer until the tofu is heated through (about 5 minutes). Stir in the lime juice. Taste for salt. Just before serving, stir in the remaining curry paste and garnish with basil sprigs.

Serve over rice. Enjoy the poppin' fresh goodness of all the yummy green things in this curry!

Deborah recommends a spicy, dry Gewurztraminer to go with this dish. I say drink whatever wine you have in your wine rack.

Approximate cost to prepare

Curry paste

3-4 large garlic cloves - $.50

1 heaping T. chopped ginger - $.50

3 stalks lemon grass - $.75

3-4 jalapeno peppers - $1.00

2 shallots - $.50

1/2 c. cilantro (including stems) - $.25

zest and juice of 1 lime - $.50

salt, pepper, cumin, coriander - negligible

The rest of the stuff

2 small oblong eggplants - $2.00

8 dried shiitake mushrooms ($5.00 or so. I only paid $1.32 for fresh ones)

1 small butternut squash (came from my garden, but I'm guessing $2.00)

1 can coconut milk $1.30

1 block firm tofu - $1.50

6 thai basil leaves - $.25

another lime - $.50

olive or peanut oil - negligible

1 cup rice - $.50

TOTAL - $13.15 for 6 servings or so. You don't really need a side dish with this meal. It freezes well.

Baked Butternut Squash Risotto

It has been a wild couple of months for me. I spent most of the month of September in Arizona with my sister-in-law and her partner. Although I have been cooking a lot, I haven't been blogging so now it is time to catch up. There were several summer dishes I made while I was in Arizona and at home in California, and I will add them in as I have time. For now, I have switched to fall type suppers.

Tonight I made a recipe from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine. It was a gorgeous fall risotto featuring butternut squash. It was fairly fast and easy, though I did get inspired to make my own vegetable stock earlier in the day. It was the best stock I have ever made, and fairly difficult to replicate, but I will tell you how I did it. I cut up an onion, about 8 stalks of celery, half a bag of baby carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, and 3 mushrooms. I sauteed them in some olive oil over high heat. I then added the trimmings (peels, ends, and seeds) from the butternut squash I was going to use for dinner. I added in some dried basil that was sitting in a basket near the stove, some seasoned pepper (Montreal Steak seasoning I think it was called) and let that brown a bit. I then dumped in about 3 quarts of water, and brought that to a boil. Since I didn't have any tomato paste, I was trying to think of what might make the stock taste a little richer. I looked in the refrigerator and decided to add in the leftover mushroom gravy from a couple nights ago. I added about 2 teaspoons of butter, just for good measure. I then let it simmer for about an hour. I tasted and added salt and pepper, and WOW. It was the best veggie stock I've ever made.

The RISOTTO:

I couldn't decide what kind of pan to use for the risotto, since I knew it was going to go on the stove top and then into the oven. The recipe called for a medium dutch oven, which I didn't have. I decided on a very large dutch oven which would be way too big. I'm glad I did because it turned out to be a fairly large dish and then I wasn't trying to cram everything in.

Since I had already peeled my butternut squash for the stock, I cut that into cubes and set it aside. I also washed 1 bunch of spinach and set that aside to add in later. The recipe called for kale, but I couldn't find kale in southern Arizona, so I settled on spinach as a replacement. The spinach worked fine, but I think kale would have a nice texture in this dish.

Also, before you begin cooking, preheat the oven to 400º. The stovetop cooking only takes about 15 minutes.

To make the risotto, I diced a small onion fairly fine, (you could also use a couple of shallots), and started sauteing that over high heat while I mined 2 garlic cloves. I added them along with a tablespoon of fresh thyme, and then cut up the butternut squash and set it aside. When the onions were soft and the garlic and thyme very fragrant, I added in 1 1/2 cups arborio rice. I let that cook about 3 minutes (until translucent) and then put in 1/2 cup white wine. I let that absorb into the rice (about 2 minutes). I then seasoned with salt and pepper, and added 4 cups veggie stock and the butternut squash. I brought that to a boil and then stirred in the washed spinach.

Then I put everything in the oven for 20 minutes. All the rice was tender and the liquid had been absorbed. The dish had these beautiful fall colors and flavors. It needed a little more salt and some parmesan cheese, but was a very rewarding, comforting, simple dish for a weeknight. And now I have LOTS more stock to get into some other dishes. I think I'll freeze some of it.

This dish was much easier than regular risotto and just as tasty. It would be good for a potluck because it would reheat fairly easily. The flavors in this are very mellow rather than big and bold. It doesn't have a real creamy sauce like some risotto, but you could stir in some freshly grated parmesan and a little hot water (or broth) at the end to make a creamy sauce for it.

Things I'd do differently next time:

I'd try using kale instead of spinach.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 bunch spinach - $1.50

1 butternut squash (2-3 lbs) - $1.75

1 1/2 c. arborio rice - $.50

1/2 c. white wine - .50

4 cups stock - $3.25 (less if you make your own)

1 small onion - $.25

2 cloves garlic - $.15

1 T. fresh thyme (1 t. dried), olive oil, salt & pepper, a little parmesan for grating - negligible

TOTAL - $7.95 for 6- 8 servings. (Three of us ate it for supper, some having seconds, and we didn't even eat half of it.)

We had a fabulous little impromptu salad of finely shredded napa cabbage and finely diced red pepper dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. Yum.