In the Nov-Jan issue of Organic Gardening there is a really nice article on Winter Squash. I’ve never been a real fan of Winter Squash until this year. I had a lovely volunteer crop that grew from the compost pile, thank goodness because squash bugs ate the rest in the garden. Anything volunteer around here is given the permission to grow. I figure, if God is kind enough to bless me with it, then I must be be it’s caretaker. That is unless it’s got three leaves and makes me itch!
The tried and true Butternut was my volunteer and came from the bags of compost I rendered from the health food store last winter to feed the chickens. It grew nicely with no care except to avoid it with my John Deere. It didn’t seem to mind the company of the new raspberry plants and they did quite well together. I harvested 12 nice squash from it’s vines and they are delicious. Some are being stored in the basement for the dark days of winter.
While in the health food store last week there were several boxes of locally grown winter squashes. I couldn’t remember all that I’d read about, but the name “Sweet Dumpling” stuck in my head. So I brought home my first “Sweet Dumpling”.
I was cooking pastured milk fed pork chops for dinner the other night and thought the little “Sweet Dumpling” would make a great side dish. Of course like my usual self, I failed to plan ahead so I chose to boil the squash for a quick dinner. I peeled it and cut it up making sure to save the seeds, some for making Smoked Paprika Pepitas (recipe in magazine) and some for seed saving. Unfortunately I was rushed for time, because the article says that the “Sweet Dumpling” is unbeatable for stuffing, roasting and baking.
All was not lost. I boiled it with chicken stock and it’s aroma was delicious! I added a pinch of cinnamon and cloves, salt and a dash of cayenne. It cooked down completely and my brain shifted into gear. Ahhh, I’d make some winter squash soup. I took my potato masher to the squash and liquids and mashed. I added 1 generous tablespoon of raw heavy cream. Delicious!!! I garnished it with some fresh fennel that I was using to cook up some greens and it was really, really good.
The pork chops I usually brown in a little raw butter and then add water to almost cover and cook them for 1 hour. Sometimes I peeled a couple apples from storage and put them in while the chops are cooking. Wow! Good stuff! Since my Honey can’t have fermented foods, I put my pork chop on top of some homemade fermented sauerkraut. It was warm enough to warm up the kraut, but not hot enough to kill the live enzymes that will aid in digestion, that along with the chicken stock in the squash soup. A meal to die for!
A good meal to cook in the dark days of winter for sure. I’ll have to buy a few more squash next week at the health food store, trying a couple more varieties, especially since they keep so well.
That will teach me not to plan for dinner!
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I was just telling our little cocker mix that she is going to love being milk fed! Yes, the milk fed pork chops are so tender and out of the world good! I can’t wait to have the problem of too much milk! We are praying that Josie is pregnant and will deliver a healthy calf in 9 months!
That’s better.:) I just wanted to let you know how good the meal sounds. When I was a youngster my parents decided to get into farming and we had every animal imaginable for a couple year period, at which point they decided it was too much work and gave it all up. So my memories of it all are a bit limited.
What I do remember is them feeding all the extra milk to our pigs. I have never had such good pork.
There I think I fixed it Mike! Thanks for letting me know.