Squashed

Oh no! My winter squashes are  starting to
wrinkle up and resemble the face of  Baba Yaga, 
a Slavic supernatural being who appears as a 
ferocious-looking woman. Rumor has it that she 
flies around the woods in a mortar, as she wields 
a pestle.

Richard, my son, had gifted me a dozen squashes, from his hundreds which he’d laid wall to wall on his garage floor to cure. Like Mamma, like son. We both love to garden, big time. As I don’t like wasting food, especially homegrown, I cooked up several of the humongous butternuts. Once I’d skinned it all, I ended up with a gallon of roasted mashed up veggie, and found many tempting recipes online.

In spite of some lazy resistance, I ended up cleaning and roasting the seeds, which are just as good as pumpkin seeds. It is hard to go wrong with oil and salt and crunch. I blended some squash with a box of silken tofu that I’d bought at the Asian market, and sprinkled in some pumpkin pie spices, for a creamy “instant” pudding. I enjoyed this quick and satisfying breakfast several times this week, and had it for dessert as well. Yes, I’d made a considerably large vat, and yes, for breakfast and dessert the same day. Why not?

A friend came for dinner and I served her whole wheat pesto pizza. I’d had great success with my basil patch this summer, and had blended up and frozen multiple containers of the garlicky pesto sauce. This version also included pumpkin seeds and Chinese cabbage. I topped the pizza with chunks of roasted squash and puffball. This fall I’d found four soccer ball-sized puffballs within a week, and after slicing and baking them, had tucked them into my freezer for a snowy day. Adding sliced, unpeeled apples, would have contributed to the rainbow color scheme, and would have added some tartness. Next time.

I tried a new recipe for curried wee patties made with garbanzo flour and squash, which I’ll serve tonight with a creamy lime, tahini, cashew sauce, with a sprinkle of sour “sumac lemon” juice tossed in.

I’d made quarts of the local tangy, citrus flavored sumac juice this fall, and had frozen it in recycled plastic salad dressing and water bottles. Fortunately, I’d remembered to go out foraging just before the berries were too old. Fall was almost over, and the sumac was not as red as a month ago, but was still usable. I’d found and clipped armloads of sumac branches which I’d found by the roadside, next to the Genesee River. Once home with my precious stash, I’d stripped off the berries and soaked them in a bowl of cold water. After sloshing and massaging the tiny hairy fruits, squeezing and swishing for several minutes, I scooped the berries out with my hands, then dumped in another bowl full. Repeating this step multiple times increases the potency of the liquid. The final step was to strain the dark pinkish liquid through tightly woven synthetic cloth to remove the remaining berries and seeds, which I added to my compost bucket.

My goal of using up squashes in a variety of recipes was successful, and the diverse dishes were staggered throughout the week such that I have not felt in the least bit squashed.