Squash Mac & Smoky Italian Collards

There's an awful lot of cooking and storing involved in keeping up with seasonal produce at peak harvest time.  You have to prepare the bounty (wash, dry, peel, chop), then cook it, then eat some of it and preserve the rest (freeze, can, dry, etc.).   It is an incredible amount of work, the volume of produce is at its peak threatening to overwhelm even the most casual bystander.  But, don't throw up the sponge!

After preparing and roasting my squash and washing and chopping my collards, I finally got to make a meal.     

It was as fine as cream gravy.

Squash Mac

Advance Prep Needed: Roasted Squash

*1.5 cups raw nuts 

*Cashews, walnuts, pecans, etc. or a combination.  I used 1 cup cashews + 1/2 cup pecans.

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 clove garlic

1/2 to 1 tablespoon sweet, white miso

1 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/8 tsp nutmeg

freshly ground pepper, several grinds 

(I never measure pepper because I always use fresh and just grind it into recipes as needed)

3 cups seasonal squash, roasted:  2 cups for the sauce, 1 cup for assembly

(My small butternut and medium acorn squash yielded 3.5 cups roasted)

2 cups hot pasta water

(I prefer to make my pasta sauces with blended nuts and pasta water rather than almond or soy milk thickened with arrowroot.)

1 pound of pasta, cooked 

(any kind, but a wagon needs wheels, don't it?) 

1/2 Cup Perfect Pepitas or French Fried Onion Pieces (I used Wegmans brand)

About 1 tablespoon vegan butter 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (I use my 8 quart stock pot) for the pasta.  It takes about 20 minutes to heat a large pot to boiling, at least it does in my house, so you can start your sauce recipe below.  

Prepare the sauce:  

For a high speed blender (such as a VitaMix):  Add all ingredients except pasta water and reserved one cup of cubed squash in the order listed (cashews first, and so on, so nuts are down closest to the blade) to your high speed blender.  Now, you gotta wait for your pasta water. Once water is boiling, salt it, and add pasta.  Wait until your pasta is about halfway through it's cooking time (so some of the gluten is available in the water) and scoop at least two cups of the water out with a Pyrex measuring cup (or a coffee cup!) and set aside.  At this point, you'll have about six minutes left to make the sauce before your pasta is done cooking, and, guess what? That's enough time!  

Add 2 cups of that hot pasta water to the ingredients in the blender, cover (and put a dishtowel over the top in case of spurts) then blend on high for about 60 to 90 seconds, using the tamper as needed to get out air pockets.  Once sauce is thoroughly blended, turn off blender.  Your pasta timer is probably going off, now.  When it's done, drain your pasta and return to the cooking pot.  Add sauce and stir to coat until it is the consistency you prefer (some people like more sauce, some less).  

For a food processor:  Add nuts through pepper, and pulse to blend, scraping down periodically, until well combined.  Add squash and pulse/scrape until combined.  Add some pasta water a tablespoon at a time and pulse and scrape until the paste loosens a bit.  Then, with the motor running, drizzle in the rest of the water through the opening at the top of the processor and process until smooth.  This is kinda like making a pesto, folks.  

Arrange in a greased baking dish with the reserved 1 cup of squash cubes:

Cover with about 1/2 cup of French Fried Onions or other crunchy topping of choice, like Perfect Pepitas  and dot with little pieces of vegan butter.  Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, just until the top is crispy and the butter is melted.  

The sauce yields about 4-5 cups of sauce, total.  I had leftover sauce, so I put it in an ice cube tray to freeze for use later this winter.

Serve with Smoky Southern (Italian) Collards or any green of your choosing.  Enjoy!

Now your wagon's ready to roll!

Tomorrow I pick up our next CSA box...

Homesteadin' it, October 1st through October 31st, 2012

Twelve Hours In And Still Above Snakes

Well, we're all dragged out from spending 12 + hours in the kitchen this weekend, trying to make a dent in this.  This weekend, we did: Roasted Squash Seeds, Chard & Collard Chips, Caramelized Roasted Squash, Smoky Southern Collards and even more Canned Organic CSA Marinara.  Phew!  I'm beat!

 BTW, to be "above snakes" means to still be standing up (and not dead!) in cowboy lingo. 

Yesterday, I started with these:

Nekked!

Yup, I couldn't help but to do another round of seeds.  B'nut + Acorn squash seeds were good!

 Here was my list yesterday:

 

 As you can see from the above pics, I started with the squash: one butternut and one acorn and their seeds.

Seeds first since I wanted to start at a low oven and work up. B'nut and Acorn squash seeds = YUM.  

 

Dry 'em in a low oven first. I ended up just doing 200 degrees this time for about 30-40  minutes, checking and stirring every 15 min to quicken it up a bit.  The seeds MUST look and feel dry at the end of this period for it to count, or you may still end up with chewy seeds.  Just sayin'!

Roasted at 300 for oh, about 30 minutes (again, stirring at about 15m). I seasoned them with smoked salt, a little granulated sugar, a little cayenne and sunflower oil.  Delish! I wanted to use them as a crunchy topping for this Squash Mac I am going to (finally!) make tomorrow, but I ate them last night after the Sheriff's visit.  I couldn't resist.

Next up, Chard Chips, Experimental Collard Chips and then the Caramelized Squash:

I prepped the Swiss chard, a few collards, and the squash during the baking of the seeds.  Then, I turned the oven up to 350.

 Chard Chips!  (And Collard Chips!)

I actually made the Chard Chips during last year's MoFo!  Here's the recipe (just do the same for the collards!).  I did bake them for a little longer, like 10 minutes per side rather than 10 and 5 as the recipe states, but you'll know when they're done when they are crunchy but not burnt!  I threw the collards in there yesterday, too, and they were good but much stronger in flavor as you can imagine.  The Collard Chips would be a wonderful soup garnish or sprinkle on top of a pasta dish.  

Then, I turned the oven up to 400.  Time to roast the squash!

MAN, that roasted squash was better than butter on a groundhog! But, I had to save it because I am planning something...

I'm hoping to make this tomorrow (Monday, 10/10) now that I have everything prepped.  

And while the squash was roasting, I was prepping the two heads of broccoli:

 I love to cook and eat the tender center of the stem, but first you have to chop off the tough outside.  

Skin 'em good!  

Then you can just chop that up into matchsticks and cook it with the florets.

OK, so now we are up to what we made today (Sunday).  Today was hubby's day to help, thank the heavens!  That Squash Mac you see up there is going to be served with these Smoky Collards!

 Washin' the 'lards.

 Choppin' 

 I wanted Smoky Collards but I don't like liquid smoke (I had a bad experience the first time I used it, I may try again one day, but didn't want to risk it today!), SO, I instructed hubby to use my trusty Smoked Sea Salt (TJ's) and my workhorse, Smoked Spanish Paprika.  He sauteed the collards in lots of garlic, olive oil, and seasoned with the two smoky elements.  He also added organic raisins for sweetness against the smoke.  It's a Southern Italian thing, I'm forever adding raisins to greens :-)

Smoky Southern (Italian!) Collards

And, he canned that basket of tomatoes for me, too:

 Ain't they purdy?

 Washed, chopped and ready to be made into Marinara! (I forgot to take a picture of the finished sauce).

 There's that damn plastic funnel!  But, at least you can see the sauce pot.

 After venting steam for 10 minutes, process at about 11 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes.

Three more quarts of Organic CSA Tomato Sauce!

AND, because when you cook like this (without a finished dish), even though we were in the kitchen the whole weekend there was still nothing to eat!  So, here was my lunch today:

Don't tell The Sheriff, but part of his wagon's gone missin'.

We made a fine effort.

But, we ain't done yet!

Now, wasn't that a hoot and a holler?

Oh, and don't worry. We's still gonna candy us some cowboys!  Just not tonight. 

Homesteadin' it, October 1st through October 31st, 2012