Basic Behavior

Pumpkin has gotten a bad rep over the past several months as an epidemic of basic has smothered the 18-30 year old female demographic.   Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin baked goods, and afternoons spent instagramming pictures of pumpkin patches are some of the most recognizable symptoms of the basic disease.  Once just something that got carved a few nights before Halloween and left for raccoons to ravage after, pumpkin has taken center stage this fall as the gateway drug to basic.

This should not come as a surprise. Each fall, gourds get their 5 annual minutes of fame, and as social media has evolved, gourds have been bestowed with layer upon layer of photo filters and #fall #autumn #happy #warm hash tags.   As a cousin to pumpkin, butternut squash can also be a symptom of the basic disease, and what basic bitch doesn’t love a bowl of butternut squash soup with half smoked gouda grilled cheese? (on multigrain, of course)

I know Ebola is all anyone can talk about these days, but my recent trip abroad brought to light just how far the basic monster has spread it’s claws. In Stockholm and Copenhagen, not only did I see multiple gourd displays, but also I had to stop and take a breather when I almost caught myself taking a picture of some young Swedes taking a picture of a gourd display. The opportunity to take an insta of and insta abroad was so enticing, visions of a viral insta and brilliant caption flashed through my mind, but I caught myself in the act, and calmed myself with two small sips of my $8 cappuccino.

mis en place

Despite it's basicness butternut squash soup is very good --- but I really had no desire to get a blender dirty . On my one day of unemployment before my new job started, and as I recovered from jet lag, my goal was to do as little as possible but also be able to tweet that I had a productive day off.  Also, the refrigerator I returned to contained six kinds of mustard, 4 eggs, an avocado, and smoked salmon, so I knew I had to go to Whole Foods, and I also recognized I needed to give thought to what I was going to eat for the week.

I settled on a root vegetable curry.  Post consuming multiple pastries a day on vacation, things needed to be turn around diet wise but I wanted something that was actually going to be filling and warm because it’s just that time of year. 

soft and golden and spiced

I bought the butternut squash already peeled and chopped up because it seemed like the right thing to do on a day like today, and it really was not expensive. This recipe used one cutting board and one pot, except I toasted my spices so that got a small frying pan slightly dirty, as well as a mortar and pestle. I topped the stew with toasted cashews and served it with a seed bread I got at Meyer’s Bageri in Copenhagen. It would also be good with Naan, or topped with yogurt. I made this up as I went along.

Basic Root Vegetable Curry

3 gloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbs of fresh ginger, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 ribs celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

½ large head of cauliflower, chopped

1 potato, cut into one 1 inch pieces

3 cups butternut squash, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 cups stock (chicken or veg)

2 tbs tomato paste

2 tbs curry powder (pick your favorite)

1 ½ tsp ground coriander

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

½ cup half and half

Toasted cashew pieces for topping

Note about the spices -  I like a lot of spice. I always add more than what recipes call for.   If you are not so into the spice, maybe cut each of these back and taste the curry while it simmers to perhaps add more. I probably used a bit more than what is listed above, but I was not measuring. Also, I used whole coriander, cloves and cumin and toasted all the spices together for a few minutes in a fry pan before grinding them all together with a mortar and pestle. Using ground is fine, too.

In a couple tbs of butter and oil, sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, carrot, and celery for 10-15 minutes until softened and golden.  Remember to season with salt and pepper at this point, too. While this is happening, measure out all your spices into a small bowl to combine. Add the tomato paste, spices, bayleaf, and sauté for a few minutes. Add the stock, and scrape up the bottom of the pan. Add all the chopped vegetable and bring back to a simmer over med-high heat.   Once simmer is reached, turn the heat down, and let curry go at a lower simmer for about 30 minutes, until vegetables are cooked through. If you chop the vegetables in larger pieces, they may need to cook longer. Remove bay leaves. Add half and half, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with toasted cashew pieces. 

Basic product