Butternut Squash Soup with Kale and White Beans

They say March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, but it's March 30 and still in the 30s and 40s in New York City...with an April Fool's rain/snow storm on its way. I am trying to look on the bright side because cooler weather is also soup weather. As I've said in the past, once the thermometer hits 70, I rarely turn on the oven or stove. So I've been stockpiling treats in my freezer, from slow oven-roasted campari tomatoes to individual servings of soups of all kinds. At last count, I've crammed 10 containers of soup into the freezer at work, and at least a third are butternut squash with white beans and kale.

I was a little late to the "cook beans from scratch" party, having assumed canned beans were just as good. But then I plunked down $9 for a bag of Rancho Gordo cannellini beans (after finding them at the Blue Hill Cafe). These are like the filet mignon of white beans, as meaty as a bean can be.

The heirloom beans add a nice texture to the smooth butternut squash puree and chewy kale, making the soup a filling lunch any time of year.

Butternut Squash Soup with White Beans and Kale

Ingredients

1 T. Olive oil 2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 Medium onion, roughly chopped

2 Carrots, roughly chopped

2 Celery stalks, roughly chopped

1 Quart Chicken broth (or, if you cook your beans from scratch, try using the bean broth)

1 Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped (about four cups)

1 Head of kale, de-stemmed and torn into bite sized pieces

14 oz. Cannellini beans, cooked or canned, drained

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Method

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

Add onions and cook for one minute before adding garlic and cooking for an extra two minutes.

Add carrot and celery and saute for five minutes.

Add broth and bring to boil before adding squash.

Cook until squash is tender (about 10 minutes); remove from stove and puree with immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender.

Return puree to stove and bring back to low boil; add kale and cook until tender (about eight minutes).

Add white beans, salt and pepper and cover, turning off stove.

Let stand for 10 minutes before eating.

Stuffed Eight Ball Squash with Ratatouille

I actually made ratatouille this morning before I left for work. Yes, I am insane, but it was a cool 70 degrees, I was already chopping vegetables for my brown bag salad, and had a bunch of stuff lingering in the crisper, including $6 worth of Japanese eggplant I got at the farmers market last weekend. So I cranked the oven to 400, combined chopped squash, onion, eggplant and pepper with olive oil, canned diced tomatoes, salt and pepper and let it cook for an hour or so (until I had to pack it into the fridge and head out the door). Hard? No. Hot? Yes. I admit I was a little flushed as I ran down to catch my train. But if you have a gas grill, there is an easier way to enjoy ratatouille this summer. If you turn the burners to medium high and leave the lid down, most grills will heat to 400+ degrees (making it an ideal outdoor oven). So the next time you're preheating the grill for steaks, chicken or burgers, try cooking stuffed eight ball squash as a veggie side dish. Your indoor oven will be glad for the reprieve.

Eight Ball Squash Stuffed with Cheaters Ratatouille

I supposed you could make ratatouille and then stuff the squash, but if you're pressed for time, you can make this "cheaters" version.

Ingredients

1 T. Olive oil, plus extra for brushing squash

2 Shallots, diced

1 Quarter of a fennel bulb, chopped

4 Eight ball squash

1 C. Eggplant caponata (Trader Joe's makes a nice version)

1-2 Slices of whole wheat bread, crumbed

Grated Parmesan for garnish (optional)

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Start gas grill, setting burners to medium high.

In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, add shallots and cook until translucent.

In the meantime, slice off the top third of each squash at the stem end, wrap the tops loosely in non-stick foil.

Using a paring knife, start to hollow out each squash by running the knife along the edge (leaving about a quarter inch of flesh) and cut out a cone-shaped section; hollow out the remainder of the squash with a measuring spoon or melon baller.

Roughly chop the scooped out flesh and add to skillet along with fennel; cook until most of the water has evaporated.

Remove the skillet from the heat; add the eggplant caponata and bread crumbles.

Brush each hollowed out squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper; fill to top with eggplant mixture, wrap in non-stick foil.

Place the two foil packets in grill pan or directly on grates; lower the lid and cook for 20-30 minutes or until squash is soft.

Garnish with the cooked squash tops for show, as well as cheese if desired.

Giant Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Do not adjust your screens. Despite the low resolution (I was forced to use my BlackBerry camera to take pictures for this post), what you see below is not an enlarged image of a tiny pattypan squash. It is in fact A GIANT PATTYPAN! I admittedly love cute vegetables, so when I saw this giant yellow squash from Cowberry Crossing at Saturday's market, I had to buy it. I decided to treat it kind of like a pumpkin, hollowing out and discarding most of the innards, par boiling it for 10 minutes and then stuffing and baking it for another 30 minutes. The squash was really easy to cut, and the soft flesh (which I scooped out with measuring spoons -- first using the tablespoon and then moving onto the teaspoon for the "detail work") did have seeds reminiscent of a pumpkin. I was barely able to submerge the squash in my small saucepan, and in the end, needn't have bothered because after 10 minutes, the squash was almost overcooked. I let it drain and cool slightly before coating it with oil and seasoning the inside with salt and pepper to prepare it for stuffing. By using an oval container that was just bigger than the squash, I was able to preserve the shape (you could also use aluminium foil balls to help prop up the squash in a square or rectangular container). The end result tasted similar to a stuffed spaghetti squash, but with the giant pattypan, you could eat the rind and all -- one way to conquer a monster (squash) .

Stuffed Squash

This recipe makes extra filling, which you'll want to serve alongside the squash so you can maintain the good filling-to-veg ratio while dining!

Ingredients

1 Giant pattypan squash

1 t. Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 t. Light whipped butter

6 Baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 Small onion, diced

2 Cloves of garlic, minced

.25 C. Bruchetta sauce (or diced tomatoes and extra oil)

1 t. Oregano

1 t. Dried basil

1 C. Brown rice

1 Link chicken sausage, diced

1 oz. Romano cheese, grated

Method

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and saute the sliced mushrooms until caramelized.

In the meantime, cut a circle through the stem end of the squash.

Using a small scoop, hollow out the interior, discarding the seeds and pulp or reserving for another recipe.

Place in a small casserole dish and drizzle one teaspoon of oil over the hollowed-out squash, season interior with salt and pepper.

Add onion, basil and oregano and saute two minutes; add garlic, diced sausage and bruchetta sauce, cook two additional minutes and remove pan from heat. Stir in cooked rice and cheese.

Stuff the squash until full but not overpacked (there will be excess filling). Bake squash at 350 for 20-30 minutes until squash is lightly browned and filling is bubbling.

Let stand for five minutes before serving.