Fall Fest: Clay Pot Winter Squash

Winter squash are a marvelously deceptive vegetable. They look so hard and tough and impenetrable, but cook up to some of the sweetest and tenderest of edibles. I love the variety of clothing they wear--soothing cream, sexy blue, bright orange, rocking stripes, dappled sprays of color. But it's only skin deep. Peel any of these hard squash and you get a glorious orange flesh that surrounds what may be the best part of all--the seeds.

The flavors of a freshly cooked pumpkin are so beyond what you get with the canned version that it's worth the effort to peel and clean them for everything from pies and muffins to stews and soups. I love roasting pumpkin with other vegetables for a thick mellow soup. And, I enjoy chopping them up and adding the pieces to sweet and savory ingredients for a one-dish baked meal.

Sweet Dumpling and Tiger Stripe squash from Suzie's Farm

Last week I was over at Specialty Produce and came across these enormous and striking pumpkins: Blue, an Australian heirloom (which looked green to me, but whatever); Fairytale, an old variety native to France and known there as Musque de Provence; and Cinderella, a flat French heirloom. I just saw the latter in a big box at Trader Joe's in Hillcrest, by the way.

Blue pumpkin

Fairytale pumpkin

Cinderella pumpkin

I was particularly drawn to the Blue, but they all were more pumpkin than I could manage on my own. So, here and there, I've picked up a collection of small hard squashes--an acorn, a tiny butternut, a couple of cute Lil' Tigers, a Sweet Dumpling, and Tiger Stripe. I figured that together they'd make for a great stew-like dish baked in a clay pot with sausages, golden raisins, and giant Cuzco corn.

Ever since I was introduced to clay pot cooking by Paula Wolfert and her terrific book Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking, I've been collecting pots and experimenting. Winter squash is the perfect ingredient for this style of cooking. All you need is a stoneware pot. I used this gorgeous silky brown 2 1/2-quart casserole made by my favorite local potter, Roberta Klein. Don't worry about it cracking. As long as you don't preheat the oven, but instead let the pot warm with the rising temperature, it should be fine. And, of course, make sure that the glaze is lead free.

The ingredients here are basically what I happened to have in my kitchen, other than the squash. I'd bought a package of frozen giant Cuzco corn awhile back and was waiting for an opportunity to use it. Native to Peru, they're filled with protein, and have a dense chewy texture, making them perfect for stews and soups because they keep their shape. But if you can't find them, just add something else like garbanzo beans. Same with the sausage. I wanted a one-dish meal so I added a couple of lovely apricot chipotle pork sausages I bought at the UTC farmers market from Sonrise Ranch. Its juices and meat added a lot of flavor and some nice heat. But, this dish would work just as well without meat for a vegetarian meal.

Serve this with a hearty grain. I chose quinoa, but it would be great with wild rice, barley, farro, or kasha (buckwheat groats).

Clay Pot Winter Squash
Serves 6

Ingredients
2 pounds winter squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1-inch pieces (save the squash seeds)
1/2 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups giant Cuzco corn (you can find frozen in Hispanic markets)
1 cup golden raisins or other dried fruit
2 large fresh sausages, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup olive oil or 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup pumpkin or butternut squash oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar, plus more to sprinkle on toward end of baking
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients except the squash seeds and extra brown sugar and mix well. Add to 2 1/2-quart or larger stoneware pot and cover. Place the pot in the middle rack of the oven. Heat oven to 375. Bake.

2. Put squash seeds in a colander and rinse, separating the seeds from one another and the squash fibers. Let dry. Then toss with olive oil and salt. Spread on a baking sheet or aluminum foil. Toast in the oven with the squash for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

3. Check the squash at about an hour and 15 minutes. If the squash isn't completely cooked through, cover and cook another 15 minutes. When it is cooked through, sprinkle the mixture with brown sugar and let cook another 15 minutes uncovered. Remove from the oven and serve, sprinkling with toasted squash seeds to garnish.

Winter squash with quinoa

Let's see what my Fall Fest colleagues are doing with winter squash:

Gilded Fork: Butternut Squash Bisque with Nutmeg Crème Fraîch
Caroline at the Wright Recipes: Roasted Pumpkin and Winter Squash with Labneh and Skhug
Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Fall Vegetable Chicken Pot Pie
Alison at Food2: Pumpkin Donuts
Toby at Healthy Eats: Pumpkin 5 Ways (Including Seed-Studded Pumpkin Bread)
Kirsten at Food Network: Best Pumpkin Recipes
Cate at Sweetnicks: Baked Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar and Butter
Paige at the Sister Project: Pumpkin, Roasted, Stuffed and All Grown Up
Michelle at Cooking Channel: Pumpkin and Squash Recipes
Food Network UK: Praise the Gourd

Now It's Your Turn to Join Fall Fest 2010!
This collaborative effort won't be much fun without you! The more info we all give, the more we'll all enjoy fall's harvest. Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? You can contribute in various ways, big or small.

• Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. 
• Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog any upcoming Wednesday, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and then we're all cooking with some great ideas. Or go big: Publish entire posts of your own if you wish, and grab the big Fall Fest 2010 pumpkin badge above (illustrated by Matt of Mattbites). We'll also be tweeting using #fallfood as our hashtag. Here's the schedule:

Sept. 1: Sweet and Spicy Peppers
Sept. 8: Garlic
Sept. 15: White (or colorful “white”…but not sweet) Potatoes
Sept. 22: Spinach
Sept. 29: Apples
Oct. 6: Fall Salads
Oct. 13: Pumpkin and Winter Squash
Oct. 20: Pears
Oct. 27: “Mad Stash” (as in what you’re freezing/canning/drying, etc.)
Nov. 3: Root veggies
Nov. 10: Brassicas: incl. Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage or other
Nov. 17: Sweet Potatoes
Nov. 24: Bounty to Be Grateful For

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Finally Fall! So, Roasted Squash Soup

It took until today, Sunday, for San Diego to finally get a full-on dose of blustery fall weather and I've been more than ready for it. Yesterday, I'd gone to Nijiya Market on Convoy for a few things, including a Kabocha squash. This Japanese squash is sweet, almost like a sweet potato, and I wanted to pair it with an acorn squash and some root vegetables for a roasted squash soup.


Now, I don't usually just post a recipe, but I'd mentioned on Twitter that I was planning on making the soup, which is a riff on my friend Karina Allrich's roasted vegetable chowder, and I'd gotten some Twitter requests to write it up. So, here we go, with apologies to my more competent recipe blogging friends.

I've been making winter squash soup for years and years but usually I peel the squash, cut it up, get rid of the seeds and cook it in stock before pureeing it. That's perfectly fine, but I wanted to find out if roasting the vegetables would bring out a more intense, earthy flavor.

So, instead of peeling the squash, I simply cut them into pieces, saving the seeds for toasting later, and also cut up a sweet potato and several carrots. I love roasted garlic, so I used the peeled cloves of half a head. All this went on a large baking sheet, tossed with olive oil, dried thyme and kosher salt. Ordinarily I would also include pepper but I'm giving some of this to my mom, who can't eat pepper. I then poured homemade chicken stock and Manzanilla sherry over the vegetables.


The vegetables went into a pre-heated 400-degree oven and roasted for about 45 minutes, until they were brown, soft and caramelized.


Once the vegetables cool a bit, you can easily pull the skin off the squash. While they were cooling, I pulled out my favorite blue Le Creuset dutch oven and added some olive oil. Once that had heated up, I added chopped leeks, minced garlic and grated ginger, sauteeing until they were just starting to turn golden. With the squash peeled, I added the roasted vegetables to the pot, incorporating them into the leek mixture. Then I added a quart of chicken stock and brought the soup to a slow boil. I turned down the heat and covered the pot, letting the soup simmer for about 15 minutes.


At that point, it's time to pull out the immersion blender and puree the soup. I like to leave it just a little chunky. Taste and adjust the seasonings, perhaps even add some water or more sherry if it's too thick.

And, remember those squash seeds? Don't let them go to waste. Rinse them thoroughly in a colander, removing as much of the stringy pulp as you can. Let them dry, then toss them in a bowl with just enough olive oil to coat them and perhaps some garlic salt (you could use any spice or herb, actually).


Spread them on a baking sheet and toast them for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, periodically stirring them around. You want them nice and golden brown.


These are great for snacking, but, of course, I'm serving them on top of my soup, along with some sour cream (no time to run out for creme fraiche) and fresh thyme leaves from my garden. Thanks to my friend Angela, who is stopping by for dinner, I'll have a warm sourdough baguette from Bread & Cie to dunk with, along with butter from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese.



And, yes, roasting makes a big difference!

By the way, if you really have a fixation on squash soups, take a look at my Gourmet Club co-host Maureen Clancy's write up of her experience with Austrian kurbiscremesuppe (roasted pumpkin, butternut squash soup). It sounds amazing!

So, here's the recipe:

Roasted Winter Squash Soup

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Step 1:

1 kabocha squash (about 3 lbs.)

1 acorn squash (about 1.5 lbs.)

1 medium-size sweet potato

5 carrots

½ head of garlic, peel cloves but leave whole

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup sherry (I used Manzanilla sherry)

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp. dried thyme

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

Cut squashes in half and spoon out seeds. Save seeds for later. Cut squash halves into quarters. Put on large roasting pan or large heavy sheet pan. Wash and cut carrots into 1-inch pieces. Add to squash pieces. Wash and cut sweet potato into large chunks and add to pan. Toss in garlic cloves. Drizzle olive oil on vegetables. Sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper on vegetables. Toss mixture with hands to coat vegetables. Add stock and sherry. Roast for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and caramelizing, stirring about halfway through. When vegetables are out of the oven, let them cool, then pull off skin from squash pieces and discard.

Step 2:

2 leeks, trimmed of green, cleaned, and chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

½-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated

¼ cup olive oil

1 quart chicken stock

Roasted vegetables from Step 1 above

1 tbl. fresh whole thyme leaves

Crème fraiche or sour cream

*Roasted squash seeds

In large heavy-bottom pot, heat olive oil and add leeks, ginger, and garlic. Saute until just turning golden. Add roasted vegetables and stir to mix. Add stock and bring to slow boil. Then cover and lower heat to simmer. Gently simmer for about 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Taste and adjust seasonings. If it’s too thick, add a little water to reach right consistency.

Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and sprinkles of thyme leaves and roasted squash seeds.

*Roasted squash seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse seeds thoroughly in colander, removing stringy pulp. Let dry. Toss seeds in a bowl with just enough olive oil to coat along with a dash of garlic salt. Spread seeds in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown. Great snacking but if you can hold out, sprinkle on the soup.

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