The rewards of planning

 

Greetings all, it’s been a while since I was on here. Not sure why, other than relative business and a certain lack of enthusiasm for cooking, although I seem to be getting over that now (more on that later). I have recently been Very Unconfined, having been in Manchester visiting husband’s family for the first time since the plague started. There were big groups of people, restaurants, pubs, bars and Christmas markets: all very lovely, and probably the most nearest to pre-Covid days we’ve come. Does anyone else find that they’re fine while actually doing things, but that Covid paranoia creeps in the quieter days afterwards, when you worry whether every slight twinge in the throat might be the start of something?

Anyway, we came back to an empty fridge, but usefully a full freezer, meaning I am currently reaping the benefits of what I refer to as Operation Squash. Two weeks before we went away, our veg box presented us with a large Crown Prince squash. By the time we were about to go away, we’d managed to use up a quarter of this monster, in a curry. With doubts about whether it would last nearly another week until it got back, I spent an afternoon converting it into two different soups and a sauce for gnocchi – equating to about five meals for two, to give you an idea of the size of this monster (as testament to the veg box people’s generosity, our ‘small; box is supposed to contain about 6-8 portions of veg; I reckon we’ve got that just from the squash).

The monster...

...and what it was transformed into.

For all of these recipes, the squash needs to be peeled and cut into chunks.  This is easy and quick to type, but not easy and quick to do. A Crown Prince is possibly the hardest squash to deal with. The husband volunteered to do this (I think he doesn’t trust me with a knife… what does he think I’m going to do?). After the amount of swearing and shouting it took him to accomplish this, I think next time I may do it myself…

Squash being deconstructed, husband being grumpy.

Anyway, onto recipe number one: roasted squash soup. It’s a Jose Pizzarro recipe, and it’s very easy. Roast squash with olive oil, garlic and rosemary sprig. Remove the rosemary and garlic, add stock, blend. Serve with blue cheese, either on croutons or just sprinkled on top. I haven’t defrosted this particular batch yet, but I’ve made this recipe a lot over the years and it hasn’t let me down yet.

Recipe number two went in the over to roast at the same time as the above, but it is a bit more complicated. It’s Miso Butter Butternut gnocchi, from Ixta Belfrage’s Mezcla, which is one of two (fairly) new recipe books which have revived my cooking enthusiasm. I’m not sure I’ll make many things from it, as her style of food often requires to be shopped specifically for, and also many things not usually found in a veg box, with this being an exception.

Anyway, roast the squash (she specifies butternut, but I firmly believe all orange fleshed squashes are essentially interchangeable) with butter, miso, maple syrup and harissa, cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil, stir and give it another ten minutes. Whack the lot in a food processor and blitz until smooth. We had this for dinner tonight, with gnocchi as the recipe suggests. I also made za’atar butter: melt butter and oil, then stir in za’atar, and garlic. Pour over the mixed up gnocchi and squash sauce. There’s also a tomato salsa that I didn’t make, as I didn’t have any tomatoes (I added some chilli sauce instead). This was really good, but a word of warning/encouragement: this is very rich and very filling, and also came as a large portion (all the stuff I’ve made from this book has been generous in its portioning.

Miso butter squash gnocchi, plus za'atar oil

And finally, another soup, which was cooked on the hob, whilst the two above were in the oven. This was squash soup with harissa and coconut, from Sabrina Ghayour’s latest, Persiana Everyday, the other book which has revived my culinary enthusiasm. Everything I’ve eaten from this has been delicious and easy to make, and this (we ate it last night) was no exception. To make you fry a chopped onion in oil, then add the squash for a few minutes. Next, you add harissa, curry powder and garlic granules. Stir, then cover with boiling water and simmer until the squash is soft, about half an hour. Then blitz, before adding the coconut milk.

 

Squash and harissa soup, croutons in the background.

Lastly, since it’s almost December, I am on the hunt for a good Christmas Lunch dessert. I need something not too heavy, which can be made in advance. (Christmas pudding is out on the grounds that it’s too heavy, and my dad isn’t that keen on it). Ideas so far: tiramisu, a chocolate mousse, or a champagne jelly of some sort? Suggestions and recipes welcome!