Adventures in Kabocha Squash

Now that we are in the midst of Fall, all the local markets have an abundance of squash to choose from.  There's the familiar butternut and acorn, but also carnival, hubbard, turban and other lesser known varieties.

This means, of course, that I finally was able to procure kabocha squash.  I wrote in a previous blog that I had a delicious preparation of kabocha squash at SEI back in March and that I've been stalking it ever since.  Now that squash is available in abundance, I was able to procure one.  Granted, once I bought it, I didn't have the foggiest idea what to do with it.

So, I did some research.  Kabocha is also known as Japanese Pumpkin, likely because of it's pumpkin-like shape and the fact that it is primarily grown in Japan.  It is also a popular component of vegetable tempura, which means many of us have probably had it without realizing it.  Kabocha, like many bright orange vegetables, is rich in beta carotene, and also a nice source of iron, vitamin C and potassium. 

I did some googling to see how kabocha is often prepared.  I saw a lot of soups with thyme, and I figured I could get the same flavors by cubing and roasting the kabocha and seasoning it with fresh herbs.  This was an excellent plan, but I didn't take one thing into consideration.  The kabocha is the Fort Knox of vegetables.  I even had trouble hacking through it with my trusty Wusthoff.  So, after I finally got it in half, I scraped out the seeds, put it face down on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and roasted the kabocha halves in the oven at 400 for 40 minutes.

I took the kabocha out of the oven to cool.  In the meantime, I minced a shallot, prepped the fresh thyme and shredded some kale.  When the kabocha was cool enough to handle, I began cutting chunks of it from the shells.  It had an almost crumbly texture - possibly, I let it cook for too long, but it had a nice flavor.

I then put the shallots to work in a gob of soy-free Earth Balance, and then added the kabocha chunks, thyme, salt and pepper, kale and fresh parsley.  I then added in some leftover freekeh from last night.  It looked a little dry, so I added a splash of wine to moisten things up. 

The result was a nice, filling cold-weather meal.  The kabocha was similar to butternut squash, but nuttier and creamier (the latter creaminess may have come from the large hunk of faux butter I cooked it in).  I put just the right amount of salt in to enhance the flavor of the whole shebang as well.

What the Freek is Freekeh?

Yes, I finally cooked something!  I had a yen for farro this week, but when I was in the grains section at whole foods this week, I stumbled upon freekeh and decided to give it a try.

"What is Freekeh?" you may ask.  It's roasted green wheat that can be served like rice or pasta.  According to Greenwheat Freekeh, the nutritional advantages of Freekeh include its high percentage of fiber, protein, calcium, potassium, iron and zinc, but low place on the glycemic index scale.  Thus, it's an excellent option for vegetarians and vegans.

Like farro, non-instant rice and other whole grains, there's some cooking time involved.  I brought the freekeh to a boil and let it simmer for 45 minutes.  While the freekeh was cooking, I reconstituted some sun-dried tomatoes in hot water.  Normally, I use fresh tomatoes, but I wanted the bite and texture of sun-dried for this dish.

I then minced shallots and sliced up some fresh brussels sprouts and, when the freekeh had about 15 minutes to go, sauteed them in soy-free earth balance.  I then added some garlic, freshly ground black pepper, the sliced sun-dried tomatoes, salt, some of the poaching liquid from the tomatoes, and a splash of white wine.  I finished the sauce off with red pepper flakes and italian seasoning, and then stirred in some vegetarian friendly parmesan cheese (no rennet was used, and the cows were not given rGBH - check your labels if you want to learn more!).  Vegans can easily omit the parmesan to make this a dairy-free meal.

I am happy with the result - the freekeh was chewy and nutty, and the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and red pepper flakes added a nice tang.  The sliced brussels sprouts were a cool contrast, and I liked the aged creaminess the parmesan added to the dish as well.  I have leftovers, so we'll see how it re-heats for lunch tomorrow.

Vegetarian on the Road - East Coast City Edition

Well, so much for my editorial structure I promised to stick to last week.  One of the things about traveling often for work (I've been on two trips so far this month) is that it's hard to stick to any kind of schedule, much less an editorial one.

But, one benefit of a crazy travel schedule is the opportunity to sample vegetarian fare beyond my home base of DC.  To that end, here's a round-up of some of my recent dining adventures:

New York City
Let's start with an amazing fine dining vegetarian experience I had tonight at Blossom, a cozy restaurant in Chelsea.  All of the menu items are organic and vegan.  I spoke to the server about my soy allergy, and she noted that a number of the dishes were finished with a soy butter, but she made some recommendations that she thought I would enjoy.  I ended up having a black-eyed pea cake, a "crispy cake of yukon gold potatoes, black eyed peas and chipotle aioli."  The seasoning on the pea cake was impeccable, and I loved the smooth texture of the veganaise aioli.  I followed the starter with the evening's special, pan-seared seitan cutlets with a rosemary tomato sauce, yukon gold potatoes and hairicot verts that was so good I kept taking smaller and smaller bites so it would last longer.  I've never had handmade seitan before and I am not sure I can go back to the boxed stuff from Whole Foods now, which means you can look forward to a blog about my attempts to make seitan from scratch in the future.   But anyway, Washington, DC NEEDS a fine dining vegan restaurant like this.  Or maybe it doesn't, because I could eat at Blossom every day if I lived near enough!

Philadelphia
I was in my hometown for a quick conference last week, which meant I got to take a side trip to one of my favorite places, Reading Terminal Market, a historic building with a variety of food stalls - produce, candy, pastries, you name it.  There are a number of places vegetarians can happily dine at Reading Terminal.  For nostalgia's sake, I hit Spataros, which makes a mean vegetarian hoagie.  Some other good vegetarian options include Kamal's, Mezze and Basic Four Vegetarian Snack Bar.

I also had the chance to experiment with the salad bar at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian style steakhouse with locations around the US.  Some fellow conference attendees who I enjoy catching up with every year really wanted to go there, so I decided to give it a shot as a vegetarian.  In my meat eating days, I had happily eaten the unlimited meat and I remembered that Fogo has a wonderful salad bar.  So, while my colleagues enjoyed their meat meals, I feasted on marinated mushrooms, hearts of palm, tomatoes and bufala mozzarella, yellow peppers and more.  It is a little off-putting to be around so much meat, but it's good to know that if I have to attend a work function at Fogo, I'll have plenty of options.

Baltimore
My life hasn't been all work and no play this month - my husband and I spent Saturday evening in Baltimore, where we took in a Buddy Guy concert in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  We originally planned to go to Little Italy, which has some amazing restaurants, but since we were running late, we instead opted to try a restaurant in Power Plant Live, which is the complex that housed our concert venue.  We decided to try Joe Squared, which had a sign outside that said they were "Named the Best Pizza in Maryland."  I tried the veggie pizza, which had "pink sauce, arugula, zucchini, eggplant, fennel, mozzarella and Boursin cheeses."  I was actually a little disappointed with it - the crust was meh and the veggies would have benefited from either being roasted at a higher temp or being sauteed first.  Overall, the whole thing was very bland.  However, my husband enjoyed his sandwich, they had a mushroom "cheesesteak" that looked good, and the servers were super nice, so I would be willing to give them another shot.

Washington, DC
It was my birthday recently, and my husband took me out to dinner at Poste, which is located in the Hotel Monaco in Gallery Place.  There isn't a wealth of veggie options, but the ones that are available are exceptionally good.  I started with an arugula salad with basil, mint, figs and sherry vinaigrette.  For my entree, I had the Autumn Vegetable Crepes, which included four individual crepes - one with beets & goat cheese, one with cauliflower, one with farro and chanterelle mushrooms and one with polenta and roasted red pepper sauce.  The presentation was gorgeous and the results were super tasty.   Via, twitter, I confirmed that there are different seasonal versions of the crepes available throughout the year, which means I have an excuse to pop in every few months or so to sample them anew.

Stuff To Read and Ponder

Per my goal of sticking to an editorial schedule, Thursdays are my day to share some articles and websites about vegetarianism.   To that end, here are some interesting things I've read lately:

We Love Subway: I read about this site in Healthy Bitch Daily, which is a great resource if you're looking to learn more about veganism and prefer your informational material delivered with a heavy dose of sass.  This week, HBD profiled this Compassion Over Killing sponsored website, an open letter to subway to encourage them to offer more vegetarian options beyond the Veggie Delight and the veggie patties.  Since Subway is the world's largest restaurant chain, it would be a great statement if they offered more vegan and vegetarian options.  Selfishly, I hope the faux-meats they add would be Field Roast Grain Meat Company deli slices, which are soy free.


Top Vegetarian Stadium?  Lincoln Financial Field in Philly! - I knew that Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies stadium, gets high marks for offering vegetarian items, but it also turns out that the Linc offers great options for vegetarians, including  "faux-steak and "chicken-steak" sandwiches, a brand-new seitan brisket, veggie dogs, black-bean and garden burgers, and vegetable wraps. In premium dining areas, fans can also choose a grilled vegetable hoagie, fresh roasted vegetables, hummus with pita chips, fruit, or a vegetable platter."  Way to go, hometown teams!

Raising Vegetarian Kids - With my friends and family in the midst of a baby explosion, I've often wondered about raising children as vegetarians.  This article talks about some of the health benefits vegetarian kids enjoy, as well as some ways to ensure they receive important nutrients.

Wednesday Restaurant Round-Up: Foggy Bottom

Recently, a new development opened in Foggy Bottom, right by the George Washington University campus, that includes a number of restaurants and eating options.  Since it’s close to my office, I’ve had the opportunity to try a few places:

Circa at Foggy Bottom:  This is one of three Circa locations, with the other two at Connecticut & Q in Dupont and in Clarendon.  There are a number of vegetarian items on the menu, including fried green tomatoes, a variety of salads and pizzas and a mushroom ravioli.  I had the wild mushroom pizza, which came with cremini, shiitake and portobello mushrooms, pesto, Gruyère and shaved parmesan cheeses and arugula.  I loved the pizza – it was super cheesy and the mushrooms were extremely tasty.

Burger, Tap & Shake: Those of you who have been reading for awhile know that I love a good veggie burger.  I am so happy to have found one at Burger, Tap & Shake.  The Haight-Ashbury is a falafel patty with pickled vegetables and feta.  I loved both the seasoning and the texture.  Of all the veggie burgers available in downtown DC, this is my new favorite.

Whole Foods Foggy Bottom: District Commons is also home to a new Whole Foods.  The grocery store is on the bottom and on top is the bakery and to go section.  One cool thing they have at this location is a kiosk where you can put in your order for salads, “good earth bowls,” sandwiches, pizza, etc.  Think Sheetz or WaWa, but with farro and quinoa.  I tried out a good earth bowl, with mixed success.  First, I assumed by the ingredient options that this would be a hot meal – it was not.  I picked kale as my base thinking that it would be cooked, but when I got to the counter, I realized it was going to be raw.  Also, the system forced me to pick a sauce, which, for someone with a soy allergy, is a no-no.  I ended up placing my order with a sauce and then hustling over to the counter to ask them to omit it.  Then, I also discovered that a number of ingredients I selected on the kiosk weren’t available.  In my case, this meant farro and parsley.  But, I was able to get barley as a sub.  The rest of my bowl included the aforementioned kale, eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas and onions.  I ended up microwaving it back at the office and it was good hot.  I’ll keep trying to see if they work out the kinks.

Some other options include new outposts of Roti and Sweetgreen, both of which I’ve written about before and have tons of great options for vegetarians, as well as District Commons, a new fine dining restaurant I have yet to try, but hope to soon.

Some Ideas for Editorial Structure

While I focus on vegetarian cooking and blogging here, I'm involved in a lot of other activities, one of which is my professional society, the American Society of Association Executives.  ASAE is home to a lot of prolific bloggers, including my friend and colleague, Elizabeth Engel, who blogs on association management, pro football and her own food blog.

The subjects of blogs came up at a recent networking event Elizabeth and I attended, and Elizabeth shared a tip with us on being a prolific blogger - setting an editorial schedule.  This piqued my interest.  Since my work, travel and activity schedule can sometimes wreak havoc with my cooking and my availability to blog, I find myself posting sporadically, which wasn't my intention when I started this experiment.

So, I am going to give myself an editorial structure for the next 30 days:

Monday: Cookbook review
Tuesday: Ingredient Spotlight
Wednesday: Restaurant Round-Up
Thursday: Vegetarian Articles

I'll work in food posting and vegetarian on the road segments (yours truly is posting this from yet another hotel) as I can.

Restaurant Round-Up for this week coming soon!  Are there any other regular features you'd like to see?