On a warm Fall afternoon, we stopped at one of a dozen roadside farms along New York's Route 9.
Replete with all of the season's bounty, the farm we visited was also home to a couple of child-size tractors, including this gree one which immediately caught my daughter's eye. While she contemplated life as a farmer, the adults were in search of Fall vegetables and, of course, the prerequisite Halloween pumpkins.
I was also eager to find some winter squash, specifically acorn squash so that I could make a new recipe. Predictably, my two and a half year old daughter is fast becoming a picky eater. She is relatively easy--she does like a few members of the vegetable family, including: edamame, broccoli (sometimes), and carrots (full disclosure: only when cooked with brown sugar). I include fresh vegetables with every meal, and I wanted to give Rachel Ray's Butternut Squash Mac n' Cheese a try. Conventional thinking is that Squash is a vegetable. Actually, Squash is a fruit and it was first grown in Mexico, 10,000 years ago. Squash was one of the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash, and Native Americans taught the early colonists how to grow these three crops.
We found everything we wanted, and with squash, pumpkins and children in tow, we loaded up the car with our bounty and headed home.
Here's the recipe that inspired my pursuit of squash:
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray
Ingredients
- 1 pound macaroni with lines, such as tubatini or mini penne rigate
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 medium onion
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus a few sprigs for garnish
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 (10 ounce) box frozen cooked butter nut squash, defrosted
- 1 cup cream or half-and-half
- 2 cups (8 ounces) sharp Cheddar, grated
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of handfuls
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, eyeball it
- Black pepper
Directions: Heat a pot of water to boil for the pasta. While pasta cooks, heat a second medium size pot over medium heat, an add olive oil and butter. When the butter melts into the oil, add the thyme and grate the onion directly into the pot. Cook the grated onion in butter and oil 1 to 2 minutes, stir in flour and cook mixture 1 to 2 more minutes. Whisk in stock, then combine with butternut squash until warmed through and smooth. Stir in cream or half-and-half and bring sauce to a bubble. Stir in cheeses in a figure 8 motion and season the completed sauce with salt, nutmeg and pepper. Taste to adjust seasonings. Drain cooked pasta and combine with sauce.
Here are a few related links:
http://www.shybrothersfarm.com/the-store.htm
http://www.cricketcreekfarm.com/
http://www.mightyfoods.com/
http://www.heidiswanson.com/
http://www.foodbuzz.com/
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2008/11/get_familiar_with_winter_squas.html
http://pollinatorparadise.com/Squash_Project/SquashResearch.htm
http://tinyfarmblog.com/tag/kabocha/
http://www.perryandsons.com/
http://www.producepedia.com/
