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Braised Butternut Squash + Polenta: Fast Slow-Food

April 23, 2016 By Lauren

braisedsquashwebfinal

During nutrition workshops or consultations at some point the following question invariably comes up: how do I cook nutritious meals fast?

Maybe you, dear reader, are currently pondering the same thing.

I feel you.  All of you.  As someone who’s comfortable in the kitchen and who also really enjoys spending time there, I’ve definitely asked myself this question on many a tired Thursday night.  It’s a big one.

Everything’s moving at an increasingly rapid pace, culturally speaking.  We’re working longer hours to pay for growing expenses, spanning greater distances in shorter amounts of time, mining deeper for gases, rare metals, data.  The possibilities are limitless, expansive, vast, if only we had the time.  Time could be said to be our most precious commodity and we allocate it accordingly, seeking the fastest solutions for problems, not least such corporeal ones like what to eat tonight.

The free time we have is typically spent on leisurely pursuits—taking a walk, meeting a friend for a drink, and, more often than not, looking at a screen.  Whether it’s the news or a premium-cable series or a 90’s romcom or a video-game or an instagram feed from someone living in the wilds of Maine or Los Angeles, it’s no surprise that at the end of a long and stressful work day, we want nothing more than to plug into some other story to unwind.

And while there’s nothing inherently wrong w/ this, what’s happened is that the time for cooking, preparing a nourishing meal, has been reallocated and what nourishment we receive is a byproduct of convenience which, as we all know, is never what it’s cracked up to be (see: the tv dinner, the happy meal, the delivery pizza).

Cooking, in my opinion, is self-care just as stretching in the morning, showering on a regular basis, brushing your teeth, drinking enough water and getting some good sleep are; it should be part of our daily routine.  But it isn’t.  We’ve never been taught to integrate it into our routines as we have those other things which brings me back to that commonly-posed question.

How do I cook nutritious meals fast?  Where do I start?

Start here, with a butternut squash, some polenta, some spinach.  This is a recipe for what I like to call fast slow-food.  Fast because you’ll spend 15 minutes doing something–chopping or whisking or stirring.  Maybe 20 if you’re new to the kitchen.

Slow because the rest of the hour or so until dinner is served can be spent doing whatever it is you do to unwind.  Meanwhile a series of chemical reactions will be working for you, transforming squash, spinach, corn into nourishing meal.

There’s no secret trick or secret soy-based-shake for this.  Cooking takes practice and a bit of planning and, yes, a bit of time.  But by learning to make a few, simple recipes it will get easier and easier to incorporate them into your daily routine.  To make nutritious meals (relatively) fast.

Who knows?  Maybe the more time you spend in the kitchen, the more you’ll enjoy being there.  Dear reader, it happened to me.

Braised Butternut Squash + Polenta

Note: I haven’t cooked butternut squash in ages, mostly because I disdained peeling it.  B/c it’s braising for such a good amount of time, there’s no need to peel–the skin softens up beautifully and can be eaten.  Otherwise, you can easily scoop the squash from the skin. 

Adapted from Ottolenghi’s Plenty More

For the Squash:

  • 1 butternut squash, sliced in half lengthwise then sliced in 3 sections
  • 1/2 cup chicken bone-broth
  • 1 knob butter
  • 5 pods cardamom, crushed
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon whole black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
  • 1 section of orange rind
  • couple of pinches salt
  1. Turn oven to 200C.  While oven heats, place squash bottom-side down in a large braising pan.  Pour broth over and add herbs and spices.  Add dabs of butter on top of squash.
  2. Place in oven and let braise for 45minutes-1hour, until soft. Occasionally, spoon broth over squash while braising.

For the Spinach:

  • 1 big bunch spinach, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 knob ghee
  • couple of pinches salt
  1. Place cast-iron pan on medium-heat.  Add ghee.
  2. Add garlic and salt and cook until fragrant.
  3. Add spinach and stir, cook for 10 or so minutes, until deep green.

For the Polenta:

Note:  For maximum digestibility I soak my polenta overnight in warm, lemony water. 

  • 3 cups chicken bone broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup course polenta
  • 1 knob butter
  1. Bring bone-broth and water to a boil in a large sauce-pot on the stove.
  2. Whisk in polenta and turn heat down to low.  Cover and let cook for 30-45 minutes, giving the polenta a good whisk every 10 minutes or so.
  3. Turn heat off and add butter, stir.

Layer polenta, spinach and squash on plate.  Serve w/ a good grate of parmigiano, glug of olive oil, and sprinkle of salt.

Filed Under: Plant, Recipes, Seasons, Spring, Vegetable Tagged With: braised squash, butternut squash, dinner, fast slow-food, lunch, polenta, simple, spinach, spring

Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

September 23, 2015 By Lauren

eggpizza

Happy Autumn Equinox, friends!

If your September has been flying as fast as ours has, then this dish is for you.  Call it a frittata or tortilla or just plain ol’ egg-pie, the combination of potatoes + assorted vegetable + eggs + cheese has seen me through many a hectic day.  It’s my kind of fast-food: one whose ingredients can be found in even the emptiest fridge, that takes five or less minutes of active preparation and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner and mid-night snack.

Last week I happened to have a few beautiful (and slowly turning) heirloom tomatoes on hand, so I arranged them on top of the potato and zucchinni frittata I was making.  I only had six eggs to fill my very broad skillet, so I added a whack-load of parmesan cheese to bulk it up.  When I took it out of the oven, I realized it totally belonged to a different genre of egg-pies–namely, the pizza one.  I added some freshly plucked basil and a good glug of olive oil and presto: the uovo-magherita (or egg-pizza) was born.

tomatoes slicedtomatoes zuchinnis

The Autumn Equinox is the official start of Fall, a farewell to Summer and a welcoming of cooler days, longer nights, and also sweaters, wool socks, sweet cider, and what is slow-cooked, brothy, roasted, stewed.

Saying farewell to Summer means a farewell to zucchinis and heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil, too.  That’s why I’m sharing this egg-pizza w/ you.  Let’s send off Summer in style.  Fast-food one, at that, to enjoy these still not-too-cold evenings and this waning Summer light.

moi eggoven uovomargherita

Print
Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

My cast-iron skillet has a 15-inch diameter. The amount of ingredients you use will depend on the diameter of your pan. Egg-pie, for me, is totally intuitive --use what you have on hand and let go of precision! If you've never improvised on a recipe before, this is a safe place to start.

Ingredients

  • knob ghee
  • two handfuls of new potatoes, peeled and sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 2 small zucchinis, sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 6-8 eggs, whisked w/ salt
  • 1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thinly
  • a generous chunk of parmesan, grated
  • few leaves basil
  • glug or two of olive oil
  • course celtic sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 300F (150C). Place skillet or pan on stove and heat on medium. Add ghee once skillet is nice and hot and let melt.
  2. Add potatoes, distributing them evenly. Let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes so that they brown. Add pinch salt.
  3. Add zucchinis and stir. Let cook for a few more minutes.
  4. Whisk eggs in large mixing bowl w/ pinch of salt. Pour over zucchinis and potatoes.
  5. Let cook on stove for 5 minutes. Arrange half of your heirloom tomatoes on top. Take off heat and transfer to oven.
  6. Let cook for 12-15 minutes. I like my eggs to be wobbly, so I take mine out on the early side.
  7. A few minutes before you take your pie out of the oven, add the parmesan cheese.
  8. Let cool and add other half of the heirloom tomatoes, the basil and the good glug of olive oil and sprinkle w/ salt. Enjoy!
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Filed Under: Animal, Dinner, Egg, Lunch, Recipes, Summer Tagged With: breakfast, dinner, egg, fall, fastfood, frittata, lunch, pie, pizza, summer, tomatoes, tortilla, zucchini

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