Squash Glamor

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend was the last one for the Luray Page Farmers' Market.  Even though it's the end of season, there was still a wide variety of produce available, and we picked up a few items to enjoy in the next few weeks.

In addition to the vegetables shown in the photo, we got a small loaf of rosemary/sea salt bread baked by a local farm, and I got two small briskets, about 3 pounds each.  But today I want to post about the vegetables.

There are still tomatoes on the vines, even though there isn't enough sun to really finish them - Mary picked up a couple at the market even though she has about a dozen left in Alexandria.  There is also some lingering eggplant - we got two; I'm planning to pair those up with a couple of small sirloins I have in the freezer.  These steaks and the brisket are from Skyline Premium in Luray.

But on to the show stoppers - the squash.  The big one on the left is a banana squash...we'll have to see why it is named that.  But my plan for this big fellow is to make a batch of my version of curried squash soup - mixing the squash with apples.  This is a fall tradition for me - the family loves it too.  I think I have three pounds of squash in this one vegetable, which is about what the recipe (which is adapted from the Silver Palate cookbook) calls for.  Except for the butter I'll use, this recipe can be completed as a true vegetarian dish if I substitute vegetable stock for the usual chicken stock.

Then we have the smaller acorn squash.  I used to use the solid green version of this in the soup, but as I mentioned, I am going to branch out this year.  Both Mary and David suggested simply roasting these, which sounds great, I want to go a little further out on the limb.  I saw a couple of versions of stuffed squash in the Simply in Season cookbook - one used sausage, and the other mushroom. 

So that's my plan - one meat version, and one vegetarian version.  There have been a couple of suggestions for baking or roasting these, too, and we may end up doing that with one of them.

Lastly, the green kubota squash at the top of the photo.  David described how this vegetable goes through a succession of finishing steps so that it now can be kept for four to five months at a temperature of 55 degrees.  So I have some time to think about what to do with this one.  But based on David's description of how it's used, I'm leaning towards desserts...sharing it with Mary who could bake some loaves, or I will try to make truffles or squash bars...as a fall back, I know of a couple of nice curry side dishes I could put this one in.

Wherever this adventure ends up, that little Saturday trip leaves us with some entertaining ideas that we'll revisit with a couple of posts over the course of the fall.

Meanwhile, here are Amazon links to the two cookbooks I referenced above: