messing around

Deborah
Happy Rosh Hashanah everyone! This year my family and I will be celebrating the Jewish New Year at my dear sweet mother in law's home. I was instructed not to bring ANYTHING, but I find that a hard rule to follow. My own Irish family traditions did not include this holiday so I look to the experts for culinary advice. My BFF Ilene and I have been celebrating Rosh Hashanah together on and off for the last 10 years or so. Ilene has a wealth of family lore to accompany the fixing of the dinner. I called her this morning and asked if there was anything Jewish New Years-y I could do with chilies and peppers from New Mexico? That got her spewing out a whole list of possibilities: sweet, round, eggplant, pumpkin, luck, Eastern Europe, cinnamon, raisins, stuffed, rolled, apricots, coins, carrots, noodle pudding. Oy. She is big into free association. Hey, I 'm there.

 

There are many wonderful ROUND things to choose from at the farmer's markets these days to grace your dinner table with luck for the new year.

I wanted to stuff my chilies so I decided to make up something with butternut squash and mozzerella cheese, both things I happened to have in the fridge.

 My chilies are roasted then stuffed and ready for the oven.

The result is interesting, a little smoky, a little sweet, a little spicey- just what you hope for in the New Year.

Butternut Squash Stuffed Chilies

Chilies:
10 chilies, roasted at 400F for 10 minutes on a sheet pan till the skin blisters. Remove from oven and throw a dish towel on top of the chilies so they steam a bit as they cool. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off. It should come off like a wet bathing suit after a day at the ocean. Make a small slit in the chili and gently remove the seeds.

Roasted chilies fresh out of the oven and ready for peeling.

Stuffing:

Fry up some onions (.5 cup)

mash up some cooked squash or pumpkin (.5 cup), 

add something sweet like applesauce or plumped up raisins (.25 cup), 

add some grated cheese (.5 cup), some chopped herbs (2 Tbs), 

a pinch of cinnamon, 

a teaspoon of brown sugar, 

salt and pepper and 

a squeeze of lemon juice. 

Taste to adjust seasonings. Mash this filling all together and then carefully divide it up among your  chilies and stuff them with a spoon, spreading out the filling as best you can to fill the length of the chili.

Topping: 

Toast up some chopped pecans and some panko breadcrumbs in butter to sprinkle on top before baking.

Lay stuffed peppers close together in a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes at 400F.

Amanda
Though it's often fun to pair wines with foods that have contrasting qualities, I am going to go with the "complementing characteristics" school of thought on this one. I love the idea of a spicy Zinfandel with this dish. Zinfandel will typically have sweet fruit flavors combined with notes of cinnamon, pepper, plum and raisins. These flavors sipped alongside the similar flavors of the stuffed chilies would be fantastic! And the sweet fruit flavors of the wine will keep in line with the other symbolic offerings of all things sweet for the New Year!

If you are looking for a Kosher wine to go with your Rosh Hashana dinner, Baron Herzog is always a reliable producer of Kosher wines. If "Kosher" is not a necessary designation for you, then look to the always wonderful Zinfandels from Seghesio. Rombauer, Alexander Vineyards, and Outpost are some other names to look for. And finally, if you don't mind spending a lot of money, seek out Carlisle - the cream of the crop! (and very hard to come by...)

A Chili in the air

Deborah

Vegetable chili is one of those recipes that I improvise with every time I make it. The backbone is the chili sauce and beans. The added vegetables are what ever is on hand.

Onion harvest from Hook Mountain Growers

Bell peppers, onions, zucchini, winter squashes, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, corn kernels have all found their way into my chili pot. I especially like this recipe when I am trying to feed those who don't think they really like vegetables. In other words, kids and other picky eaters. I love the addition of the winter squashes like pumpkin in this recipe because they add a sweetness to balance out the heat of the chilies and a thickness to create a belly-filling satisfaction.

A staple of all vegetarian restaurants, vegetable chili is worth making at home because it is easy, inexpensive AND you can make it taste the way you want. I think of recipes like this as something very fluid. It can morph in many wonderfully different ways. Thick or thin, sweet or spicy, chunky or fine, crunchy or soft. Or a little bit of all. That is the beauty of it. Dip into a chili recipe and boldly trust your instincts to guide you.

Vegetable Chili with Pumpkin
2 Tbs. Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
s & p  to taste
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 small zuchini, chopped into bite size pieces
4 Tbs. chili powder
2 Tbs. flour
1 Tbs. Tomato paste (I love to buy tomato paste in a tube, rather thank dealing with a partially used can)
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (you can used canned)
1 1/2 cups cubed calabaza pumpkin (substitute acorn or butternut squash if you like)
1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen is fine)
1 14oz. can kidney beans (white, pink, or black beans are good too)
1 teas. dried tarragon
1 teas. dried oregano
2 cups water
1 Tbs. sugar - optional

Heat oil in a large sauce pan and saute onions and carrots, seasoned with salt and pepper for 5 minutes until they start to soften. Add the garlic and the zucchini and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the chili powder and cook for a minute, stirring it into the oil in the pan to create a paste. Add the flour and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, the tomatoes, the pumpkin, corn, the beans and the dried herbs and stir to combine the contents of pan. Slowly add the water till most of the vegetables are covered. You want this to turn into a sauce, not a soup. Only add as much water as you need at this point. Stir pan again to loosen the tomato/chili paste into the water. Lower heat to a simmer and allow chili to cook slowly uncovered for 20 minutes. Look at the pot every once in a while to make sure the chili doesn't get too dry. Add more water as needed. After 20 minutes taste the sauce to check on the balance of flavor. Adjust seasonings as needed. If you like your chili a bit sweet, add a Tbs. of sugar to the pot. Allow to simmer a another five minutes until vegetables are tender.

Amanda
Love the idea of pumpkin in vegetarian chili. So perfectly "Fall".  Maybe just the idea that pumpkin is actually in a dish will interest my 5 and 4 year olds to try it! Right now all they know is that pumpkins should either have faces painted on them, or faces cut out with candles burning in them.

This chili sounds great, and I love to improvise. Depending on your seasoning, and whether you prefer it sweet or spicy, will determine what wine to use. But I would opt for red either way. If you like to "spice it up" a bit, as I do, choose a wine that will not exacerbate the heat, but rather complement and "mellow" it. Something with sweet fruit flavors. Perhaps a Shiraz. Australian Shiraz has a lot of concentrated fruit, with thick, jammy flavors. Lots of spice as well. So, I would either go in this direction, or look to a red from the Southern Rhone in France. Grenache and Syrah (same varietal as Shiraz) blends would be appropriate. Again, the wines provide a richness of fruit which will soften the spice. Be sure not to pick a red that is too tannic, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, as the spice in the food will make the tannins more pronounced and unappealing. A Zinfandel would also be wonderful with this dish. You don't want a wine that is too subtle as the bold, spicy flavors in the chile will wage war with the wine, the food ultimately claiming victory.  Heat in a dish can reak havoc with your taste buds, and a wine that is too mellow will be lost on them. So, something bigger and bolder like a California Zin with lots of spice will work well in conjunction with the firey flavors of the dish.

If you don't necessarily like firey hot chile, the flavors of the spices themselves call for any of these varietals. I would specifically stay away from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for this particular recipe. If red is not your "thing", try a Rose or perhaps a Riesling.