👨🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨🍳
(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)
As I write this, Thanksgiving is about a week away. Every year my little family eagerly gathers to celebrate the holiday with an extravagant feast that makes a British Royal Family banquet look like a box lunch prepared for a third grade field trip.
Over the decades, I have developed, tweaked, and perfected an elaborate Thanksgiving menu, much to the delight of my clan. Our annual blowout includes Creamy Chestnut Soup, Dandy Brandied Candied Yams, Maple Sugar Acorn Squash with Spicy Roasted Pepitas, Savory Corn Pudding, Scalloped Potatoes with Leeks and Bacon, Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Sunchokes, and of course, Roast Turkey with Chestnut Cornbread Stuffing (along with the subsequent procession of turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, turkey burritos, and turkey soup). Not to mention my bespoke gravy, two kinds of festive seasonal libations, three kinds of cranberry sauce, four kinds of pie, and five kinds of ice cream.
But this year will be different. For the first time I can remember, I’m spending the holiday cooking for one. Thanksgiving in the Time of COVID.
So I decided that I’d track down a teeny turkey (just prep it and throw it in the oven unadorned) and pick up a wee winter squash (same technique) – no behemoths: no humongous Hubbard, no massive Marina Di Chioggia, no colossal Crookneck no matter how curvaceous.
And that was the genesis of this series. It started innocently enough with a run to the farmers’ market to procure said diminutive squashlet but upon arriving I spotted a vendor who was flaunting about two dozen varieties. Jeez. Now, those of you who visit here know that food decisions are anathema to me; hell, I’ve learned how to say “one of each, please” in fourteen languages. So what you see in this photo is what I bought during my first trip. Yes, I said “first” because after I brought them home, I ran back and grabbed a few more. (Hey, that that’s how I roll. Nothing succeeds like excess. Reread that Thanksgiving menu if you don’t believe me.)
Anyway, in the following posts, I’ll feature each of these (plus a few more), offer a little info, show you what I’ve done with them, and identify a few favorites from the squash patch – so stay tuned for the next installment!
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
So lovely to read your heartfelt writing again. Don’t let it stop. 😉
While this holiday will feel very different, for me, anyday could be a holiday just how you make of it. For me, I don’t want another turkey to be killed just that day. Maybe 11/30. ;P
😁 Thank you so much, Kim! Have a happy holiday season – and let’s try to keep extending it every day!
So glad to have you back, Rich! I already had tears with my laughter as I read this in anticipation of the delight-to-come! Please visit farmers’ markets
more often. Someone’s gotta do it!
Glad to be back, Talia! Thank you so much for reading me and for writing back!
I know the stall of which you speak, and I think I have one of each of those squashes by now, and several more! They’re hard to resist. Gotta try ’em all!
All these and more came from Evolutionary Organics at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza Farmers’ Market. But be careful: “Gotta try ’em all” is how this whole OCD series got started!