Tuesday, February 3, 2009

USING UP MY SQUASH

So I still have about 15 heirloom pumpkins and squash in my basement. I know I won't have them for much longer, as they never really stay good past the end of February. So I got on the web and stumbled across a BBC website and found this recipe. My usual pumpkin soup has apples and dried thyme in it. This recipe uses fresh thyme. I splurged for the Gruyere and actually mixed it into the soup. The heirloom pumpkin I used was one I hadn't tried yet and it turned out to be more on the bitter side (kind of white with an underlying green hue and knobby bumps all over it) I used all butter and no sunflower oil, left out the cream, but added extra cheese. Used 1/2 vegetable stock and 1/2 beef broth. The result was pure pumpkin soup heaven. I thought about soaking and blending cashews into a paste to use instead of the Gruyere. I bet it would be good as it would add a creamy sweetness to the soup. I've included the original recipe below:


Roasted pumpkin and thyme soup with Gruyere cheese

Ingredients
3kg/7lb unpeeled pumpkin, kabocha or butternut squash
2 tbsp sunflower oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
75g/3oz butter
2 medium onions, chopped
8 small sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only, plus extra leaves to garnish
2.25litres/4 pints vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
300ml/1⁄2 pint single cream
175g/6oz Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Cut the pumpkin or squash into chunky wedges and scoop away all the fibres and seeds. Rub the wedges with oil, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then place them into one large or two smaller roasting tins, skin-side down. Transfer to the oven to roast for 30 minutes, or until tender.
3. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and, when cool enough to handle, slice away and discard the skin and cut the flesh into small chunks.
4. Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onion and half the thyme leaves and cook gently for about ten minutes until the onion is very soft but not browned. Add the roasted pumpkin, any juices from the plate, the stock and one teaspoon of salt. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
5. Leave the soup to cool slightly, then add the remaining thyme leaves and liquidize in batches until smooth. Return to a clean pan and bring back to a gentle simmer.
6. Stir in the cream and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle into warmed bowls and place a small handful of the grated Gruyère into the center of each. Scatter a few more thyme leaves on top and serve.

MY NEWEST ENDEAVOR

I've been inspired lately by what Kipp Nash and others are doing in Boulder, CO. They are essentially building an Urban Multi-Plot Farm.
From their website: http://www.communityrootsboulder.com/
...Kipp Nash, who has devoted his attention to the ways in which we can connect our communities to bring traditionally rural ways of living into an urban context. Kipp utilizes the available land in urban settings (particularly front yards) to produce organically-grown produce, which is then sold at the Boulder Farmer's Market or via a CSA membership program (or given to those who have donated their land).

Amazing! Now how about that for a GREEN front lawn? That is my type of Green.

SO, I've been moved to have that for myself. In an effort to create relationships in my local neighborhood community and take a more active role in growing my own food I have created this flyer:


ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A NEIGHBORHOOD CO-OPERATIVE GARDEN?

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN TAKING A MORE ACTIVE ROLE IN
GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD?


AND/OR

DO YOU HAVE FRUIT TREES, VINES, OR BUSHES THAT YOU DO NOT HARVEST FROM THAT YOU WOULD ALLOW OTHERS TO HARVEST FROM?

HI, I LIVE ON SMITH STREET AND AM INTERESTED IN MOBILIZING A CO-OPERATIVE GARDEN FOR GROWING SOME OF OUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD. THIS IS NOT SOME SORT OF SALES THING. I AM JUST INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING WITH OTHERS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY TO GROW SOME OF OUR OWN FOOD.
TO PUT IT BRIEFLY, WE WILL BE UTILIZING AVAILABLE SPACE IN OUR OWN YARDS AND WORKING TOGETHER TO HARVEST LOCAL RESOURCES TO GROW AND GATHER SOME OF OUR OWN FOOD. THIS COULD BE AS SIMPLE AS PLANTING PERENNIAL HERBS IN YOUR GARDEN TO SHARE WITH OTHERS, ALLOWING OTHERS TO PICK APPLES FROM YOUR TREES OR AS GRAND AS TURNING A SMALL PORTION OF YOUR YARD INTO AN “URBAN FARM”. WE WOULD SHARE PORTIONS OF WHAT WE GROW WITH OTHER PARTICIPANTS OF THIS CO-OP, THEREBY, INCREASING THE AMOUNT AND VARIETY OF THE FOOD WE CAN GROW.

INSPIRED BY
http://www.communityrootsboulder.com/
CHECK IT OUT!

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED OR CURIOUS PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL ME.
DAWN AT 720-837-4933 OR inspiredfoods@hotmail.com


So this weekend my family and I are going to (ugh!) flyer our neighborhood and see if we get any interested participants and then go from there. I've started to put together some ground rules such as:
organic, non-GMO seeds and plants
Organically grown
Not dictating what the garden looks like (on the ground, raised beds, keystone gardens)
and other such things.

I want a few basic rules, but I don't want this to be a dictatorship either. Yuck.
I bet we'll have some kinks to work out, but I've got to start somewhere. Small, grass-roots movement.

IF YOU'VE GOT AN INKLING TO BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT. I'M ON YOUR SIDE!!!


The world is changing. I love it. I love it. I love it. It is so exciting. I feel my core vibrating with excitement. In other words, if I was my dog, I'd be wagging my tail!!!