caramelized squash

Squash reminds me of home as a young girl... I helped mom cook her many dishes and one of those was the squash mixed with aubergines and bitter gourd with chilis and a bit of vinegar. Oh how I miss her cooking!

It´s squash season here...the farmers have been busy harvesting. Now, the tractors keep on rolling in the fields next to our home...preparing the fields for the next season. I blogged about the white and the red onions  and the white onions I´ve gathered last week from the fields that the farmers left behind. In this recipe, I used the red onions from that harvest. This is a squash recipe I developed..and so, let´s go to the steps of how I cook this "cool" veggie. 

Caramelized Squash

Ingredients:

1 Hokkaido squash - halved, 

          seeded, and sliced 3/4 inch thick 

spring onions -

 1 clove crushed garlic

1 red bell pepper 

1 cup frozen green beans

2 leeks cut into 1x1 cm size

2 medium red onions- diced

 olive oil

2 tbsp soya sauce

salt,  pepper

1 tbsp dark sugar or 1 tbsp 

sugar substitute  (i.e stevia powder)

Preparation:

1. Cut squash into halves and scoop out seeds and membrane,  do not peel the skin. Arrange the squash parts in a container and steam for about 10 minutes or until the squash parts get soft. Transfer the squash onto a plate. 

    2. In a small container, mix 2 tbsp soya sauce with 2 tbsp olive oil , by means of a pastry brush, use the mixture to coat all sides of the squash parts.  Season with salt and pepper and  sprinkle the sugar randomly on the sides of each squash slice..

In a hot pan with 2 tbsp olive oil, fry the parts until they become golden brown and sugar begins to caramelize. Lower the heat of the fire until all sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the squash and put in a plate for later use. 

3. Cut the roots off the spring onions and wash them , steam for about 3 minutes until the green parts become limp, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of soya sauce on top and fry quickly just that  the soya sauce could give them color. transfer to a platter for later use.

In the same pan,  fry the crushed garlic, add the red onions and the rest of the cut bell peper, leeks and green beans until  fully soft,...season with salt and pepper according to your taste.

 4. Arrange the vegetables on a platter topping these with the squash. Add the  fried onions all around encircling the vegetables. Voila!

 Enjoy cooking this!

 Happy Sunday

This blog is linked-up at 

The French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday 16

an easy spinach tart....

I always have filo pastry in the fridge and I buy them readymade from our  supermarket ...it' s a versatile dough you can use for anything sweet or salty... and it´s a quick way to bake something without spending so much time in the kitchen..

One of those quick baked goodies we prefer to have at home is this

 quick & easy spinach tart and this is how I make it..

EASY SPINACH TART

Ingredients: 
1 pack filo pastry

200 grams frozen young spinach leaves, thawed and 

liquid squeezed

1 pack Mozarella around 150 grams, sliced
2 medium size tomatoes sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp Cream fraiche 
salt & Pepper to taste
margarine to coat the pie dish
vegetable oil for frying


Preparation:

1. roll out the filo sheet onto a pie dish that was previously coated with margarine, trim the edges with your finger so that the dough covers the whole baking dish.. bake in a preheated oven, middle rack at 200 °C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, set aside.

*blind baking is not necessary as the middle part of the dough will 

be flattened soon as it is filled with spinach).


2. Fry the crushed garlic, add the sliced onions, sliced tomatoes, spinach, 

sauté until becomes soft, add the creme fraiche and blend well...

season with salt & pepper according to your taste.

3. Add the spinach mixture into the crust and bake at 180°C around

 15 minutes or until the cheese starts to melt... Serve hot!

Happy Baking !!!