Best South American Squash And Vegetable Ragoût Recipes

SOUTH AMERICAN SQUASH AND VEGETABLE RAGOûT

Steps:

• 1. Place apricots and prunes in bowl, and cover with 1 cup boiling water. Soak 2 hours, or overnight. Drain, and coarsely chop fruit, reserving liquid.
• 2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Cut circular opening in squash tops, and reserve tops. Cut small slices off bottoms of squash so they stand up straight. Scoop out and discard seeds and fiber from squash. Rub outsides of squash shells and lids with oil, and place on prepared baking sheet.
• 3. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and oregano; sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and tomatoes and juice; cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add potato, sweet potato, and reserved apricot-prune soaking liquid, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are almost soft. Add corn and apricot-prune mixture, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more. Add beans, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Simmer 5 minutes more.
• 4. Ladle 1 cup stew into each hollowed squash; place lid on top. Bake 60 to 90 minutes, or until fork can easily pierce through squash.

SUMMER VEGETABLE RAGOûT

Steps:

• In a 12-inch heavy skillet sauté garlic in oil over moderately high heat, stirring just until fragrant. Add scallions, zucchini, pattypan squash, corn, and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and squash are golden in spots, about 4 minutes.
• Add broth and simmer ragout, covered, 3 minutes, or until squash is just tender. Add tomatoes and tarragon and simmer, covered, 1 minute, or until tomatoes are softened.
• Season ragout with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.

WHITE BEAN, SUMMER SQUASH AND TOMATO RAGOUT

Steps:

• Soak the beans if desired. I do not recommend soaking lima beans, as their skins detach too easily when you soak them. I usually do soak cannellinis. Cut the onion in half. Chop one half and set aside.
• Combine the beans, the onion half that isn't chopped, the 2 crushed garlic cloves and the bouquet garni in a large saucepan. Add 5 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 1 hour. Add salt to taste and simmer for another hour, until the beans are tender. Taste the broth and adjust seasoning. Remove the onion and the bouquet garni and discard
• Meanwhile, in a large casserole or deep, wide skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring often, until it is tender, about 5 minutes, and add the minced garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds, until the mixture is fragrant, and add the summer squash. Turn up the heat slightly so that the squash begins to cook right away, and sauté until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add the thyme and the tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes have begun to break down. Turn the heat to medium, season with salt and pepper, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring often. The tomatoes should have cooked down and smell fragrant. Stir in the beans and their broth, bring to a simmer and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the basil, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve hot or warm, tossed with pasta, over grains, or as is.

SPRING VEGETABLE RAGOûT

Steps:

• In a kettle of boiling salted water boil the fiddleheads for 4 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender, transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking, and transfer them to paper towels to drain. In the kettle boil the squash and the carrots for 3 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender, transfer the vegetables with the slotted spoon to the bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking, and transfer them to paper towels to drain. In the kettle boil the peas for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are just tender, and drain them.
• In a large heavy skillet combine 2 tablespoons of the butter, the onions, the thyme, the bay leaf, 1/4 cup of the broth, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer the mixture, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the morels, halved lengthwise or sliced crosswise, and 1/2 cup of the remaining broth and simmer the mixture, covered, for 10 minutes, or until the morels are tender. Add the fiddleheads, the squash, the carrots, and the remaining 1/4 cup broth and simmer the mixture, covered, for 1 minute. Add the peas, the parsley, the mint, and the garlic, simmer the ragout, covered, for 1 minute, and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits, stirring until the butter is just melted. Discard the bay leaf and season the ragout with salt and pepper.
• To clean fresh-picked fiddleheads:
• Snap off the crisp, bright green fiddlehead tops from ostrich ferns, leaving about 2 inches of stem attached. Rub off the dry brown casings by hand or put the fiddleheads in a wire salad basket and whirl the basket outdoors to remove the casings. Let the fiddleheads soak in a sink half full of cold water, changing the water several times to remove any grit or casing particles, and drain them. The fiddleheads keep, covered and chilled, for 1 week.