I am, as we have discussed, goated at vegetables, and am here to share two recipes that are very good together.
I don't have sexy pictures of these things because honestly, I think they kind of photograph poorly, so you're just going to have to trust me.
first is the squash, which is basically verbatim a julius roberts recipe, minus this part: get a koginut squash from trader joe's or whole foods or bi-rite, etc. it's half kabocha, half butternut, and I like it better than either classic option. here is the one i have been eating these last two days, on our date at the park, a couple hours before dinner:
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| koginut <3 |
when you get home, pre-heat your oven to 400º. Clean out the inside of the squash and cut it into vertical wedges, starting from the soft part and pushing the knife through the skin inside-out. Toss this with olive oil and a generous pinch of salt and fresh black pepper and get it into the oven (use the big rectangular Staub) for 35, 40 minutes. If it hasn't begun to brown deliciously, stick it back in the oven.
In the last 4-5 minutes (between the start of browning and irretrievable burning), add a handful of hazelnuts and a handful of stripped thyme or sage. (I prefer thyme.) Note that if you don't keep your hazelnuts in your fridge they will taste horrible and rancid and ruin this dish.
When you take out the dish, let it cool for a bit before tearing up a whole burrata or two and scattering it around your plate.
next is the way to make green beans that aren't absolutely pulverized the way they are in a lot of french cooking. I allege that french green beans are, in fact, brown, lifeless, and gross. I like my green beans bright green and crisp (they should snap when you bite!), but fully cooked, maybe even with a few charred spots. full of flavor, but no burnt garlic. a delicate act! but quite easy once you know how.
(might you already know how? wouldn't be surprised)
Realistically, you should get this going while the squash is still in the oven, maybe 10 minutes before the timer is set to go off. Start with a shallot. I run it on the mandolin to get it real thin and rough chop it half of it into 1" strands. It's going to disintegrate. So I don't know why I bother. That goes into a stainless steel pan with olive oil that got hot over low heat. In goes a pinch of salt. Then I press a couple cloves of garlic and hold that in reserve until the shallots are starting to brown.
In go the green beans, and up goes the heat to a true medium or even medium-high. I want these things to start turning bright green. I don't fuss with them much in hopes that one or two of them will develop those delicious little charred spots. after a few minutes, there will be still be no sign of wilting, but you might get the instinctive sense that they're going to start looking less fun pretty soon, and this is when you add the garlic and a generous pinch of salt and start tossing things around a bunch. You could also add lemon zest here if you like its bitterness taken down.
About a minute later, when the garlic is smelling really delicious and caramelizing but not yet burning: I add a couple careful splashes of water to deglaze everything. (You might even be able to use something like white wine or vermouth but I never do.) Once all of this has steamed off, I dump the beans onto a plate and douse them in lemon juice and top them with more fresh zest. and also more salt. just a tad! or a tad more than that!
I would make this again and again and again. They work with salmon, with chicken, and with my favorite winter salad, which i'll add here soon...
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| xx, still thinking about this |
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