Winter Squash Fritters with Walnuts and Feta

Say you want something savory, crispy, and fried—to start out a dinner, perhaps. Or to round out a more wholesome meal. Or to bring to a party, instead of a bag of chips (which I’ve done many times out of sheer enthusiasm for good potato chips and its place and purpose, and find no shame in). But let’s say you have time to roll up your sleeves in something a bit more involved than grabbing bodega potato chips. And it’s … Read More

Super-Tasty One-Pot Squash Soup

I had to get one of my wisdom teeth pulled the week of Thanksgiving. For two days before that, my mouth was in indescribable pain. Eating was fraught with complications, unless it was during a window of about one hour when my painkiller was cranking at its best. After the surgery, it wasn’t all roses, either. But in the process of catering to my particular eating restrictions, I came up with the best-ever method of making a creamy, pureed squash soup. The “silver” … Read More

Shredded Vegetable Dumplings

There are a lot of initiatives around hunger lately, with World Peace Day just behind us and a long winter ahead, but when one happens to involve dumplings, I cannot sit idly. The New York Dumpling Festival (#dumplingfest2015) is this Saturday, and it benefits one of my favorite charities, the Food Bank for NYC. To salute this group and shout-out the event, I thought I’d go orange with this dumpling recipe, a blend of hearty vegetables from my CSA.

Egg Curry with Butternut Squash

It occurs to me that this might as well be named Butternut Squash Curry with Eggs. But I was inspired by the notion of making egg curry, a staple peasant dish of India that can incorporate as many spice blends and vegetable additions as to envelop winter squash from a foreign terrain. It is a decidedly vegetarian main course in a distinctively vegetarian (and vegan)-friendly cuisine, and I first learned about egg curry from reading short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, … Read More

Kung Pao Chicken and Butternut Squash

It’s the end of October, and squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are everywhere — on people’s doorsteps, dining tables, and planted like portly pebbles on city park displays. But it doesn’t take witchcraft to turn winter squash into a hearty meal. It doesn’t even take a long time to cook! Here, some butternut squash slices are steamed first, then quickly stir-fried. And for a little scare, in keeping with the season, I’ve given them a Sichuan kung pao lick of spice.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

I decorate my home with food, not flowers — a bowl of peaches or tomatoes to grab from in the summer, jaunty new herbs like mint in the spring, and a fetching squash of some type to plunk on the coffee table in fall and winter. A great pile of apples often paints the scene, from mid-September to about May. If you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself equipped with a good squash and clutch of apples from a recent … Read More

Incredible Vegetable Cassoulet

For a long time, I could never fathom making many beloved, wintry foods without meat. It seemed like if you took the meat away, you’d lose the whole hutzpah of the thing. And besides, we need something to fortify our chilled bones with. Well, it’s taken a long journey but in the case of cassoulet, I’ve decided that it isn’t the pork, or duck fat that is the whole hutzpah, it’s the tender, melt-in-your-mouth beans swaddled in a creamy, baked-in … Read More

Spicy Squash Hash

I love making hash browns, but it’s not exactly the quickest route to a savory breakfast. Nor is it the most nutritious; even if using sweet potatoes, which are richer in beta-carotene and cold weather-helping antioxidants than regular, pale potatoes, you’ll spend almost twice the amount of time cooking it to a pleasing softness, and by that time you’ll have added more oils to keep it from sticking to the pan. Winter squash is in season, and I’ve found a … Read More

Honey Butternut Squash Soup

There’s squash soup, and then there’s squash soup without milk or cream. You could say I’m making an exaggeration by placing such a disparity between the two sister soups, but then I’ve never had a dairy-less version of squash soup until I made it at home. That is, if you don’t count the “butter” inherent in the squash’s name.

Bulgur and Freekeh Pilaf with Roasted Butternut Squash

I’ve gone grain crazy as of lately. There are so many different types of them to explore. It started with a pack of bulgur, coarse grinds of whole wheat with a muddy tan color and toothsome, chewy texture. If you like wild rice, you’ll find some similarities here. Then I went freaky for smoky roasted spelt, also known as freekeh. Now I can’t get Missy Elliot out of my head.

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