Eating Vegan in Liverpool: Maray & Our Kitchen
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Crazy Mother Hubbard: What To Do With The World’s Largest Squash, Part 1 – Kidney Bean & Squash Stew
For Thanksgiving, my best friend gave me a squash she bought at the farmers market. I know you’re thinking, how nice is that! What a lovely friend! Squash can feed people! You know what else squash can do? KILL PEOPLE. You know what else? DEMOLISH TALL BUILDINGS.
Yeah, so my friend gave me the BIGGEST SQUASH IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (that wasn’t entered into some sick contest of genetically mutated growths at a county faire or anything), the enormous Blue Hubbard Squash. With a slightly blue-tinted skin, this squash weighed about 15 pounds and gave me the shivers. For days (weeks? I lost track of time. no it was just days) I stared at it, half hoping to get inspired as to its uses, and half hoping to somehow break it open with my mind. I sat there with my hands on it, hoping that through osmosis my desires would lead the monster to freak the eff out and shake shake shake senora and then crack open. Pretty much I couldn’t figure out how to open it, ok? My collection of 31 knives was no match for this.
And then. And then. And gentlemen and then. My mom and I did this:
Yeah, so my friend gave me the BIGGEST SQUASH IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (that wasn’t entered into some sick contest of genetically mutated growths at a county faire or anything), the enormous Blue Hubbard Squash. With a slightly blue-tinted skin, this squash weighed about 15 pounds and gave me the shivers. For days (weeks? I lost track of time. no it was just days) I stared at it, half hoping to get inspired as to its uses, and half hoping to somehow break it open with my mind. I sat there with my hands on it, hoping that through osmosis my desires would lead the monster to freak the eff out and shake shake shake senora and then crack open. Pretty much I couldn’t figure out how to open it, ok? My collection of 31 knives was no match for this.
And then. And then. And gentlemen and then. My mom and I did this:
THAT’S RIGHT! We put that crazy mother hubbard in a trash bag and dropped it off the deck. Happy Thanksgiving, here’s a trashbag full of smashed orange goop! (The trashbag part was genius, and necessary, though.) NB that right before Operation Dumbo Drop, my dad was yelling about how it would crack the cement and he’d have to redo the backyard because of it. That’s how scared we all were of this thing. We promised my dad that we wouldn’t drop it, but then we did. It’s what Thanksgiving is all about. Luckily, no property damage occurred, and guess what – it worked PERFECTLY.
Look at how nicely the ground carved up my squash! It cracked beautifully into 7-8 easier-to-manage sections, and I got going. It took about an hour to skin and cube all of the squash, and it made a good 10 cups of uncooked cubes. That’s a lot, so we’re going to have 3 different posts about What I Did With The Hubbard Squash. First up: Kidney Bean & Hubbard Squash stew!
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KIDNEY BEAN & BLUE HUBBARD SQUASH STEW
Ingredients:
Directions:
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This stew is very comforting and hearty, perfect for these increasingly cold evenings. Or days; it’s all dark outside, who can tell the difference. Anyway, all the squash pictured is what I had after making this soup, so more Blue Hubbard squash recipes will be coming! And thanks best friend!
Challenge Accepted: Saint Joseph’s Pants Cavazoon (Sweet Chickpea Calzone) & Happy St. Joseph’s Day!
Today’s entry for my “Challenge Accepted” make-it-vegan series comes from a very special source: mia famiglia. My mom requested that I try to recreate the sweet chickpea cookies that my great-grandmother used to make for her, called “St. Joseph’s Pants”. A calzone-type cookie (called a ‘cavazoon’ in Sicily, where this is popular), the Pants are sweet doughy folds containing vanilla and honey-laden chickpea puree. They are traditionally served on St. Joseph’s Day (celebrating the spouse of Mary), which this year is March 19. The Eye-tals in my family reminisce fondly about these cookies and I just had to figure out more about them.
Now, you may recall that bean-filled desserts have to be amazing to pass muster in my book. Those shite “you won’t believe it’s made with black beans!” brownie recipes are literally the Devil’s work. (So much so that this Devil is Capitalized.) But these are different. These cookies aren’t trying to hide their chickpeas; they are proud of them and want to show them off. In Sicily, chickpeas (‘ceci’) play a huge role in traditional celebrations, as they epitomize so perfectly the ability to take something basic and inexpensive and make magical creations with it. Chickpeas play an especially big role in the celebration of St. Joseph’s Day, in salads with fennel, in pastas with cauliflower and fava beans, and of course in these calzone-like cookies. These cookies demonstrate that when you quit trying to hide the beans in your dessert, and instead show some g-d respect, you can achieve wonderful results.
Also, if you missed Purim a few days ago, this is your lucky new holiday, because these Cavazoons are kind of like hamantaschen. Hooray for Jews & Italians, the two groups who do food best. I highly suggest making these because a) it’s one of my new favorite desserts but more so b) I feel bad for Joseph and want people to celebrate his holiday. What a crappy hand he got. I really don’t understand how all that shit went down and no one listened to him exclaiming “Um y’all are playing, right?”
SAINT JOSEPH’S PANTS
Sweet chickpea-filled mini calzone cookies are delicious baked or fried. We’ll include directions for both. I suggest doing half and half because sometimes you feel like a nut, but sometimes you don’t.
Calzone Dough
Ingredients
Directions
Chickpea filling
Directions
ASSEMBLY
For frying:
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I hope you make and enjoy these calzones, or cavazoons!! Is this not the best bean-based dessert ever? It is. And how good is March for filled-cookie holiday celebrations? Is there another filled-cookie holiday I am missing? Please let me know so I may soon remedy that.
Also, you know we are not going to talk about calzone-like things without mentioning the most adorable king of loving calzones, Mr. Ben Wyatt.
Also, you know we are not going to talk about calzone-like things without mentioning the most adorable king of loving calzones, Mr. Ben Wyatt.
And after all this talk about my cavazoons, and all the work that went into them, YOU KNOW we have to watch this one as well.
orig: https://laughfrodisiac.weebly.com/my-own-creations/challenge-accepted-saint-josephs-pants-cavazoon-sweet-chickpea-calzone-happy-st-josephs-day#comments