It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And no, I don’t mean the holidays (they’re fine). I mean DUTCH OVEN season.
My enameled cast iron dutch oven is one of my most prized kitchen items, especially in the cold months. My reasons:
It lasts *forever.* I got mine five or six years ago and even though it looks worn in, it still functions just as well as the day I got it. And I use it A LOT.
It’s naturally non-stick, but still gets an incredible sear because of the heavy bottom.
It’s multi-purpose. I use it for soups, stews, braised meats, pastas, literally whatever. It also bakes bread beautifully.
There is nothing on this earth more convenient than a one-pot meal, and dutch ovens are one-pot meal royalty.
Nothing says “cozy” more than standing over a heavy pot, cooking up something piping hot and nourishing while your kitchen smells like heaven. Some of my favorite, most lasting food memories have been created around my dutch oven, or dutch ovens in general.
If you don’t have a dutch oven yet, I HIGHLY recommend you invest now or tell Santa (or whatever you call your aunt) to put it on your gift list, because it will be the real MVP when you’re staying at home this winter. I use a Lodge brand 6 qt., which at less than $100 (sometimes less than $75!) is an incredibly good value for its durability.
I digress. The moral of this very long introduction is… Get your hands on a dutch oven, and then make this soup.
Shakshuka is pure comfort food. It doesn’t have a season, and it doesn’t need a reason.
But oh, are there reasons.
Since I last posted in October, a LOT has happened, but the biggest news (which is news to absolutely no one) is that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. And in New York City, we were at the very epicenter for quite a long time and are still finding our way out. My loved ones and I have been fortunate in that we have been able to stay home and stay healthy. Although this is something we do not take for granted, it doesn’t diminish the fact that social distancing and living under quarantine for months can be mentally taxing.
A lot of my time in quarantine has been spent cooking and eating comforting foods and of course, making bread. It’s been great to see so many of my friends learning to make sourdough, because now I feel like part of a big club!
But if you’re like me, you’re having trouble keeping up with your bread-baking habits. With a loaf in the freezer, a loaf in the bread drawer, two loaves proofing in the fridge, and jeans up in my closet that I haven’t worn since March giving me side eye from beneath a thick layer of dust, what am I supposed to do with all of this BREAD?!
The other day, while browsing Wegmans, I stumbled upon a pumpkin. A beautiful, perfectly shaped, tasty looking pie pumpkin.
Hot.
I knew its destiny was to end up in my kitchen, but I’ve never cooked with a whole pumpkin before. It’s only a squash, so I knew how to prepare it. Mostly, it was the myriad of options I had for using it that left me somewhat clueless. After careful thought, I decided on chili. I’m a huge fan of making chili from scratch because you can adjust the heat and flavors to your exact liking. Also, store-bought seasonings tend to contain a lot of sodium, where you can cut most of the salt out by assembling the seasoning yourself.
Then, I thought of a way to use up the dates that have been sitting around in my pantry. Cornbread. Healthy cornbread. Healthy maple cornbread. Healthy maple date cornbread…. Oh, dang.
For this recipe, I prepared the pumpkin by cleaning it and cutting off the top, then splitting the pumpkin in half lengthwise.I scooped out the seeds and pulp, (Tip: Special grapefruit cutlery [grapefruit spoons and those double-sided knives] are great for scooping out squash pulp!) and then cut the pumpkin into 3/4-1 inch thick wedges. I then scraped off the remainder of the pulpy bits and peeled the skin off of each wedge with a potato peeler.
The great thing about this recipe (besides its deliciousness) is the amount of food it makes – I filled a HUGE tupperware container full of chili, which makes this a great recipe for families and meal-preppers alike. Plus, most of its bulk is from the vegetables and squash, not the meat, making this chili lean, filling, and easily adaptable for vegetarians/vegans.
3 cups chopped kale (Tip: You can buy kale pre-washed and pre-chopped by the bag, making preparation much easier)
1 lb. lean ground turkey
One 15 oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
One 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes, mashed or chopped
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425˚F.
Prepare pumpkin by halving, removing seeds and pulp, cutting into wedges, peeling, and then dicing into small chunks.
Arrange the diced pumpkin onto a baking sheet that has been greased with oil spray. Season if desired with salt, pepper, and a bit of pumpkin pie spice. Roast for about 10-15 minutes, or until fork tender.
Finely dice your bell peppers and onions and set aside.
In a large pan, warm your olive oil over medium-low heat and add the minced garlic. Add your diced peppers and onions, stirring occasionally until the vegetables start to become soft and the onions are translucent. Add the roasted pumpkin and kale to the vegetable mixture, and cover.
Once the kale has wilted, remove your vegetable and pumpkin mixture from heat, then transfer to a pot.
In your smaller vegetable pan, mash and brown the ground turkey until it no longer appears pink anywhere, then remove from heat.
Add the turkey, beans, and tomatoes to the pot and keep over low heat. Stir well.
Separately assemble and add your seasoning mixture. I recommend assembling everything but your cayenne/salt and pepper, and adding those last to taste. (Note: Paprika can also contribute a lot of heat depending on what kind you have. If you’re not a “spicy” person, I would recommend starting with less paprika in your mixture just to be safe, and then adding it in small increments to your liking once the seasoning is mixed in with the chili.)
Notes
Garnish with plain greek yogurt and avocado slices. Serve with Maple Date Cornbread (recipe link below).
Considering my blog is supposed to chronicle my balancing of life as a music major with other things, it’s pretty pathetic that I haven’t found time to post ANY of the recipes I’ve made in the past six weeks. To be fair, everyone falls out of their habits sometimes, and I actually have been going through some tough decision-making processes lately. If you’ve read my post about the five things that my junior year taught me, you know that I’m very hard on myself. That’s why, when the time (which is now) came to decide what I wanted to do about graduate school auditions, I decided to take a year off in order to prepare auditions to the best of my ability. Then, I began to get encouragement from several different teachers whom I respect very much, telling me that my goals are within reach now, and a year off would probably be unnecessary. So, I sit before you today decision-less, but I can’t afford to stay that way for much longer. It’s killing me, but at least now I can curl up with a hot bowl of this here squash soup when the days get rough.
I love this recipe for a few reasons.
1) It’s super easy. A bit time consuming, but low maintenance. And I’m very high maintenance, so consider this a miracle.
2) It has all the usual suspects when it comes to autumnal spices and flavors, and you can make it any time of the year when you’re missing these wonderfully crisp fall days. You can also season it however you want, with as many or as few spices as you wish.
3) A little bit goes a LONG way because it’s very filling and satisfying, so it will last you a while as leftovers. One recipe can also feed a large group of people (at least 8-10, possibly 12)
4) It’s super healthy. But that kind of goes without saying. 😉
5) The soup itself (without the garnishes I added) is vegan, gluten free, and can be oil free.
How can you lose?!
Ingredients:
2 medium acorn squash
olive oil
1 tbs. whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup original, unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 425˚F (I put my oven on “convection roast,” if you have that setting). Clean and halve both acorn squash, scooping out the seeds and pulp. Cut the pointy nubs off of each half so that they can sit flat while they’re concave-side-up. Stick cloves into the yellow flesh of the squash, making sure to cover the squash evenly (see pictures below). If you’re having trouble, carefully score X’s into the flesh. Drizzle a little olive oil onto the squash and then flip them face down. Bake for about 20 minutes, then flip squash right side up, and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool. Once the squash are cool enough to handle, remove the cloves and scoop out the flesh, being careful not to include any bits of skin if possible. In a saucepan, combine the squash flesh, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and vegetable stock over medium-high heat. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove bay leaves/cinnamon stick. Using an immersion blender, blend the squash and vegetable stock. Pouring the ingredients into a regular blender would work fine as well. Add almond milk, cardamom, coriander, salt, and pepper, then stir to combine. If you’re feeling fancy, garnish with rosemary, homemade croutons, almond milk drizzle, all of the above, or get creative!
Suggestions:
Make this a spicy squash soup by adding a little bit of hot chili sauce (like Sriracha) or red pepper flakes. If adding pepper flakes, do so gradually while blending to control the heat content and keep the soup smooth.
Use a very small amount of pure maple syrup in addition to/instead of olive oil when cooking your squash for a sweeter soup.
Substitute any type of squash if you can’t find or don’t like acorn squash. Butternut squash or pumpkin would work very well in this recipe, and I plan to try this next with a kabocha that I have lying around.
Enjoy!
HEY THERE!
Welcome! I'm Sarah, a violinist, culinary instructor for musicians, and blogger here at The Hungry Musician. Click here to read more about me!
