"winter squash" news and stories

• It's 90 degrees in Sacramento, but the winter squash are popping up anyway.
• Speaking of which: butternut squash lasagna, anyone?
• Chicago's got pizza; Baltimore's got crabcakes. What's Sacramento's signature dish?
• Nervous about picking the perfect wine? There's an app for that.

We all know and love pumpkin, but here are a few familiar and unfamiliar wonderful winter squash cousins -- and ways to prepare them.

Photo: Erica George Dines Photography.

This time of year, one of the most delicious seasonal foods to grill is winter squash. Butternut, acorn and sugar pumpkin all benefit from the smokiness and caramelized flavors that the grill imparts.

And there are so many ingredients that complement winter squash -- from sage and thyme to sweeter flavors like orange, maple and bourbon. Even sausage and bacon are perfect matches for this fall favorite.

Grilled winter squash make a nice addition to everything from risotto to salads and can be a great side to serve with roasted meats or as a main vegetarian dish. Some of my favorite cheeses -- like goat, blue cheese and feta -- round out the smoky sweetness for melt-in-your-mouth flavor.

• Need a little nudge in order to do something with your winter squash? Check out these recipes for inspiration: Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup, Brown-Sugar-Glazed Winter Squash, Baked Acorn Squash With Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinegar and Roasted Delicata Squash Salad.
• Katherine Miller's roosters Pat and Bubbles have found new homes and her mornings are now eerily quiet.
• The Paley's Place cookbook offers the best of that Portland institution.
• What's hot at the Hillsdale Farmers Market.
• Make winter greens come alive with the addition of crisp, sweet fall apples.
• Wines are going philanthropic.
• New rankings for the cleanest and dirtiest fruits and vegetables.
• Using seasoning packets to spruce up dinner in a jiffy.
• In the Fit for Dinner column, use meat sparingly for big flavor while sparing your waistline and wallet.

Source

Awhile back I acquired a cookbook from my mom. It's one leftover from her hippie days and was appropriately titled, "Country Commune Cooking." It was written by a woman named Lucy Horton, who spent five months in 1971 hitchhiking around the country, visiting communes and collecting recipes. It's interesting as much for the stories she tells about the places she visited and the people she met as it is for the recipes she prints.

One of the things I find interesting about this book is it's emphasis on organic foods. I tend to think of the organic movement as something fairly recent, but according to Lucy, there were quite a few people back in the early seventies who were committed to eating whole, organic foods.

The majority of the recipes in this book are a bit dated, but a few still jump out at me as worth trying. After the jump you'll find a recipe for Curried Squash and Chickpeas that seems, at least to me, to be the perfect dish for this time of year. I imagine that it would be particularly good over a scoop of warm brown rice.