It is one of my very favorite things to do – pick one ingredient and let’s all sit around imagining things to cook using the aforementioned item.
Today the ingredient of note was winter squash. I think it’s one of those foods that you either adore or have absolutely no idea what you might do to make agreeable. This was the topic for Alan and I as it is the chosen ingredient for the first of his in store cooking demos. I hope that it goes well, he loves to cook, loves to talk about cooking, and is really very, very good at it. I think that getting him into the store as a chef and a teacher will bring a lot of happiness into his work. He has been a great deal of thinking and administration (which he is very good at) but it is fun to do something you love and share that with others.
So we sit today and debate the risotto – a butternut squash, diced and caramelized.
What size of dice? What type of oil? How long to cook it, how hot the oven (that all depends on the oil you choose and if you have a convection oven or not. . . .) Bacon to be rendered – what sort of bacon? How much bacon? Save a bit for garnish. Should we just go for pancetta? Save a bit of the fat for cooking the leeks and shallots. . . . Would it be overdoing it to use both? Will the flavor of the shallot be lost? Olive oil. White wine? Chicken stock. . . to make it a bit more challenging, he can only use those items which he is able to purchase in the store so probably not a stock made from chicken necks and backs. What cheese do we put on the top? We decided on that (Mike had a great suggestion) but I can’t possibly spoil the surprise.
This went on for a while for it seems the debate and discussion of such things is as much fun as the actual cooking of the thing. When you invent the recipe it takes on a whole new life for although the inventing of a recipe requires a certain knowledge of cooking – to be certain – there is always the adventure of creating something that you have only dreamed and never tasted. . . .
A bit later on he announced his plan for the stuffed acorn squash – no bacon in that but it sounds amazing.
I am designing the recipe cards. Getting a recipe out of a man who never uses recipes requires tenacity. This has been going on since last week and I hope to have something tomorrow. Oi! It is going to be so good and I hope that I might see you there.
So will these recipes come with vegetarian alternatives??
you can substitute olive oil for the bacon fat and use vegetable stock. This will make a lovely vegetarian option. The stuffed acorn squash is a vegan recipe.