Squash & Cabbage Stew with Red Miso

Hotpot stews, like gomamiso-yosenabe, are a type of winter dish popular in Japan. I'd had one of Napa cabbage, glass noodles and dumplings when I ate at Cha Ya in San Francisco in 2008 and loved it. With the bounty of this year's winter squash harvest (thanks to Christie's insistence on growing it) I wanted to go a different direction with the squash stews I'd been making and thought it would be fun & tasty to use red miso and sesame to make a rich, Japanese inspired hearty dish.

The Stuff

• 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, cut into thick rounds
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 3 - 4 cups winter squash cut into 1-2" cubes
• 1 28oz can Muir Glen fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red miso
• 1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds (white is fine, black is more dramatic)
  
• 3 cups cooked Aduki beans
• 1 medium head Savoy-style cabbage chopped into large pieces
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

The Making

Saute onions on medium-high heat in a large metal pot with canola oil until the onions begin to go translucent (about 5 minutes), then add garlic. Continue to saute the garlic and onions until they begin to brown (about 5 more minutes) then add in carrots, celery and winter squash. Saute all veggies together for 5 minutes, then add the Muir Glen diced tomatoes, miso, sesame seeds, and 4 cups of water. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer together until squash is tender (20 - 40 minutes depending upon type of squash used).

Once the winter squash is tender add into the pot the cooked Aduki beans, chopped cabbage, and sesame oil. Cover pot and simmer for 15 additional minutes to allow beans to absorb flavor and for cabbage to cook completely.

Serve stew with a steamed grain (brown rice or barley) or some crusty, whole-grain bread.

**I make this with great success in the pressure cooker. Instead of reducing heat to simmer, put lid on and bring up to pressure, then reduce heat & set timer. Using Delicata squash it takes 7 minutes. Hubbard squash take more like 9 minutes on full pressure. After that step I add the pressure cooked veggies into another pot containing the cabbage, beans and sesame oil. The intense heat of the pressure cooked veggies pretty much cooks the cabbage immediately.

Golden Autumn Stew

Oh my goodness, I made the best stew tonight inspired by the veggies we had from last week as well as some of the new things delivered today. The result was a rich, almost buttery-tasting, golden stew.

The Stuff

• 3 leeks, sliced in 1/2 inch rounds & rinsed well
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large golden beets, diced
• 4 medium carrots, diced
• 4-5 large stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 small white cabbage sliced into big shreds (about 2 cups)
• 3 cups cooked Great Northern beans
• 2 T olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

The Making

Heat oil in a large stock pot, add garlic and saute until garlic has browned. Add leeks and continue to saute until leeks are softened. Add beets, carrots, celery, and cabbage. Toss with leeks and garlic. Add 6-8 cups water, bring up temperature to almost boiling, reduce to low heat, cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender. Add in drained beans and salt & pepper to taste. Continue to simmer another 20 minutes. Serve with toasted croutons.

Makes... it is one of my stew recipes so it makes an enormous pot worth that you'll eat all week (at least 6 quarts). I seem to be incapable of making a small pot of homemade stew.

Sweet & Sour Braised Cabbage & Carrots

This is last week's cabbage. Gloriously purple, gorgeous shape, and as big as my head. Really. It was the Cabbage as Big as My Head (insert your own dramatic reverb here) This week a smaller head of white cabbage was delivered so it was high time to address the giant head already in the fridge. I'm cold and didn't want salad. We also had a whole lotta carrots and it seemed the sweetness of those would add nicely to the cabbage.


The Stuff

• Half a large head of purple
• 4 large carrots
• 1/4 medium red onion, sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic, diced small
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 2 T white wine vinegar
• 1 8 oz block of tempeh
  

The Making

First slice tempeh into 1" wide slices and grill until golden brown on the cut sides. Sprinkle with garlic pepper and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, roughly cut into 1" chunks and set aside

Halve the cabbage again and slice into 1" strips, set aside. Slice carrots on bias into 1/4", coins and set aside. Heat canola oil in large saute pan on medium heat and add onions. Cool until onions are shiny and starting to go translucent, then add garlic. Continue to cook garlic and onions until the onions began to darken and caramelize a little. Add carrots, cover, and cook until onions began to take on an orange hue from the carrots. Add cabbage, sprinkle with sea salt, cover and cook until cabbage starts to soften. Add in the grilled tempeh, maple syrup and vinegar. Cover and continue to cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed and cabbage is tender.

Feeds 4, I served this with qunioa for a nice, nutrient-packed grain accompaniment