Another Recipe for the Winter

Thanks to now being a member of a farm share, I’m forced to get more creative with my recipes, meaning I have to try stuff I’ve never tried before. Honestly, as much as I love squash, I have not cooked much of it in my lifetime. In fact, this may have been the first time I actually cooked squash. Anyhow, I find the secret to creating a good new recipe is to start off with something you are familiar with. I am very familiar with orzo (one of my families traditional holiday dishes), so I took a modified version of my mother’s recipe and made it into a stuffed squash recipe. And here it is!

Vegetarian Orzo Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 medium acorn squash
1 medium onion, diced
1 small red pepper, diced
2 tbsp butter, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups orzo
3 cups vegetable broth (I prefer Imagine’s No Chicken Broth)
1 tsp garlic salt
½ tsp salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Extra salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Poke the squash with a knife several times and then put it in the microwave for two minutes. Let stand for one minute. This should make the squash easier to cut. Cut completely in half, including the stems. Scoop out seeds.
3. Place squash halves open-side down into a Pyrex dish with a thin layer of water at the bottom. Bake squash for 35 minutes.
4. In a medium sized pot, saute the oil, butter, onions and peppers until onions are soft.
5. Add orzo and saute for about 2 minutes.
6. Stir in broth. Let simmer for about five minutes, stirring it every minute or so (more so if you are using stainless steel cookware.
7. Add butter and both salts and stir until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.
8. Pull baked squash out of the oven and sprinkle salt and pepper. Let squash cool for about five minutes. Fill halves with orzo and then cover with Parmesan cheese. Place back in oven for about 12 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
9. Place halves in wide bowls and enjoy!

My First Weekly Cornucopia

Two weeks ago, I joined Arganica, a farm club that delivers local and organic produce right to my door. Last Saturday I received my first box, and it was chock-full of goodies, including some things I had never seen before. One of these new vegetables was kohlrabi, which I had heard of, but never seen before. I had to look it up myself. That is probably the first and only downside to this farm club (as opposed to a CSA), that being they don’t let you know what’s in the box, so it’s a bit of guessing game. Also, I didn’t know that kohlrabi had to be refrigerated, so it went bad before I could use it. Good thing Arganica also has a compost service. But with most produce delivery, there is always some trial and error. It’s a learning process.

The upside to this farm club (as opposed to a CSA) is that you can add on all sorts of different vegetables, grains, dairy products, etc., to your produce box. I ordered kale, milk and eggs on top of my produce box. Everything was fresh and top quality, and last night I used many of my vegetables to make what I like to call “Super Curry Stew.” It’s called “super” because many of the vegetables used are Super Foods. So here is the recipe:

Super Curry Stew

¼ cup Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
10 mushrooms, sliced
3 leaves kale, stems removed and cut into strips
10 red potatoes, diced
1 medium sweet potato, diced
2 cans lite coconut milk
2 cans massaman curry paste (or other curry of your choosing)
½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp graham marsala

1)  In a medium pot, sauté the oil, onions, mushrooms and kale until onions are soft and brown.
2)  Slowly add coconut milk and then the curry paste. Stir until the stew is an even brownish-red color.
3)  Add all potatoes and spices, stir and let simmer until potatoes are soft.
4)  Enjoy!