Super Simple Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

It is so cold outside that you can throw a cup of water into the air and it will turn into snow and fall to the ground. It has been that way for a week. And there’s only one thing to do. Stay in and cook — and eat something hot, hot, hot. Enter a twist on beef stew — no more heavy potatoes and cooked-to-death carrots. How about some sweet, creamy chunks of butternut squash instead? Don’t be scared! It’s delicious..

Super Simple Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

2 lbs. beef stew meat (it says this on the package at the grocery store)

1 lb. butternut squash (about the same amount as the beef once it’s all sliced and diced)

3 cups beef broth (If you buy a carton or can at the store, read the label. There are a few out there without sugar. Kitchen Basics beef broth in a box is all real ingredients with a touch of honey.)

1/2 – 1 medium onion (whatever you have in the house will work)

1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary

2 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper

Optional: add a cup of leftover rice or quinoa to thicken

Dice up the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Add some olive oil to hot dutch oven or big pot, and sautee the onion and garlic until soft. Crush or chop up the rosemary and add it to the pot. Take onions off the heat while you prepare the rest of the stew.

The stew meat comes in big chunks. Be sure to cut it into smaller pieces, about an inch square. Salt and pepper it. Then heat up a big frying pan, and drop the beef chunks onto it so the outside sizzles and sears. Flip the pieces over as they brown, but make sure they aren’t steaming in their own juices. Maybe do one batch at time to make sure the meat stays dry. The inside can still be pink, but remove the beef after the outside has browned.

Then cut up your butternut squash the best you can. It’s a big squash, so get a big, sharp knife. It’s easiest to cut it into slices, then lay flat on a cutting board to trim away the skin. Then slice into cubes about the size of the meat.

Add the beef and squash to the onion pot, pour enough broth over it to cover everything, and turn up the heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium to cook for about 30 minutes — or when the squash becomes soft.

If you have some leftover rice or quinoa in the fridge, add a few handfuls to thicken it up a little bit. I’m also pretty sure this would be crazy delicious with lamb or just about any other meat, as well.

This makes a big pot that will serve 6. And the best part is it stays hot in the bowl for a long time.

Summer Special

Another note about eating out. Summer is a very special season in a Korean restaurant because they make a special dish that is perfect for a girl like me. Don’t try to find it in the winter (when it would also be delicious!), but July is just about right. It’s called samgyetang, or chicken ginseng soup, and you might see it posted on the wall as a special.

This magical little dish arrives in a heavy iron cauldron that is literally bubbling as the waitress puts it down on the table. At first glance, it looks like a little chicken is sitting in a bowl of broth with some green onions floating around. But that little hen has been simmering for a long time. When you poke it with a spoon, the meat starts to fall off the bones, and when you open it up to see what’s inside, it’s filled with rice, cloves of garlic, ginseng, and dried plums that have been soaking up all of its chicken-y goodness.

It starts as a cornish hen, but it turns into soup as you break apart the chicken and mix all of its surprise innards into the broth. Add a little sea salt that comes with it, and you have a feast fit for a starving person on a yeast-free, sugar-free diet. Trust me, it’s tough to tip a heavy bowl like this to spoon out the last of the soup. But it’s worth a try.

Summer Cooking

I’ve noticed with this no flour/no sugar diet that if I don’t eat big portions, and eat them often, I continue to lose weight. Hovering around 110, I don’t wish to drop any more. I have a closet full of clothes that don’t fit, and the rest are altered with safety pins at the waist to keep my skirts and pants from falling around me knees. I’ve yet to have someone smack me for complaining about this, but it ould still happen.

All this eating, of course, takes a lot of time cooking. And while I was good at stocking the larder in the winter time — cooking up enough on a Sunday to freeze for later — I’m finding that 100 degree weather in an un-air-conditioned house leads me cook less. Or at least seek easier–and cooler–ways to keep my belly full.

I will soon share a recipe for the best gazpacho I’ve ever had — once I wrestle it from its creator. But today I share a modification on the stuffed pepper that doesn’t involve baking or a lot of heat. I tried out the microwave, and guess what? It works pretty well for cooking up dinner in a jiffy. I also tried a little bottle of premixed Thai spices. Nothing wrong with a little help, right? So here’s a tropical version of stuffed peppers with a kick.

Thai Summer Stuffed Peppers

3 bell peppers (try orange/red/or yellow for this one!)

2-3 pieces of mahi mahi

1 bottle of Thai green curry paste (Thai Kitchen makes a great one. Ingredients include green chile, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, salt, shallot, spices, and lime if you don’t want to cut corners)

2 cups of jasmine rice (cooked)

1/2 red onion (diced)

Black pepper

1/2 cup plain coconut milk (from a carton or can)

Let’s start with the peppers. Cut them in half lengthwise and pop out the green top and seeds. Rinse and place inside down on a plate. Cook in the microwave for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. (They will soften more as they cool.) Set aside. Heat up a medium-size pot (preferable nonstick), and add a little bit of olive oil. Sautee your diced red onions in there. While those are softening, place you fish on a plate, pepper it with some fresh pepper, and pop it into the microwave for about 3 minutes, or until just done. Meanwhile, back at the pot, add the 2 cups of cooked rice, about a 1/2 cup of coconut milk, and 3-4 teaspoons of the Thai curry paste. (The more you add, the hotter it will get.) Next, chunk up the fish and add it to the pot. Mix everything together, and then spoon it into your pepper shells. Serve over greens, and you have perfectly exotic summer stuffed peppers.

Note: You can swap out the mahi mahi for crab or shrimp — and this will be equally delicious.