Stuffed Acorn Squash

Tender acorn squash is filled with apple and dried cranberry stuffing for a delectable side or main dish.

Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cups diced yellow onion
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 cups diced apple, cored and seeds removed (about 2 large apples)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1⁄3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch each of salt and black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Place acorn squash halves face down on a rimmed sheet pan or baking dish and add 1/2 inch of water to the pan. Bake squash for 40 minutes.
2. While the squash is baking, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes until soft. Add the apples, cranberries, maple syrup, water and cinnamon; stir well and cook another 5 to 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
3. After the squash has baked for 40 minutes, remove from the oven, turn them cut side up, and fill each with the apple stuffing. Place back into the oven and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until the squash is tender. Serve warm.

Serving Suggestion

Slice the stuffed squash halves into wedges to serve as a side with ham, turkey or chicken, or serve each half as a vegetarian entrée.

Kabocha Squash Soup

Total Time: 45 minutes. Servings: 4-6

Earthy, Indian spices add delicious warmth and depth to this rich squash soup.

Ingredients

• 1 medium kabocha squash
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Carefully cut squash into halves or quarters; remove the seeds, drizzle cut sides with olive oil and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until very tender. Scrape the flesh into a bowl and discard the skin. Roughly chop the squash.
2. In a large soup pot, heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion for 6 to 8 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and jalapeño and cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the spices and stir for one minute. Add broth, coconut milk and squash and bring the soup just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the soup for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with lime wedges.

Serving Suggestion

This winter soup warms you up with its subtle Indian-influenced flavors. You can use any dense, slightly sweet winter squash, like butternut or Hubbard, if kabocha is not available. Serve over brown rice for a heartier dish.

Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop

Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate

Putting together a spectacular cheese platter is easier than you might think. Here are a few tips:

The cheese platter

• Serve cheese at room temperature. The cold from the refrigerator inhibits its flavor, so take your cheese out half an hour before guests arrive to allow it to “bloom.”
• Provide a serving utensil for each variety of cheese on your tray.
• Serve a selection of three to five contrasting cheeses. Think different tastes, colors, and textures, like mild with robust (like Brie with blue cheese), fresh with aged (like Boursin with aged Gruyere), or soft with hard cheeses (like chevre with Parmesan).
• Create a themed tray by offering cheeses from one region or source, or showcase an array of cheeses made from different milks (cow, goat, sheep).

Accompaniments

Whether you serve them individually or on the same platter, some foods are perfect complements to cheese. These include:

• Fresh and dried fruits
• Crostini, flatbread, and other crackers
• Hearty and crusty breads
• Olives
• Nuts
• Honey

To create an antipasto platter, include a mix of marinated vegetables and cured meats.

Wine and beer cheese pairings

In general, a wine that comes from the same geographic area as the cheese will be a good match. Here are some other pairings:

• Goat cheeses and dry red wines
• Cheddars with sweet wines and pale and brown ales
• Fresh, medium, and hard cheeses with crisp, fruity red or white wine
• Cheeses with bloomy rinds (like Brie) and fruity red wines or light, dry champagnes
• Swiss cheeses with dark lagers, bocks, and Oktoberfest beers
• Feta and wheat beers
• Sweet cheeses with fruity beers

Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Total Time: 1 hour; 15 minutes active. Servings: 8

This classic, easy pumpkin pie is one you'll want to make over and over again.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups (or 1 15-oz can) pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 9-inch homemade pie crust or prepared pie crust
• Whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except pie crust and optional whipped cream and beat until smooth.
3. Pour into pie shell and bake at 400⁰F for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350⁰F and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Cool on a wire rack for 2-3 hours before slicing. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, if using.

Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop

News Roundup: November 4, 2016

'Peoplehood' parade in West Philly pits community power against oppression

Spiral Q's annual march for social justice through community activism wound through the streets of West Philadelphia on Saturday led by the group's signature giant puppets.

Board member Katrina Clark kicked off the 17th annual Peoplehood parade with a call to solidarity. Read more.

The long process of opening a grocery cooperative in Kensington is (probably) ending soon

It pays to befriend your local politician.

Kensington Community Food Co-op (KCFC) knows. Last week, the 780-member, community-owned grocery store announced its receipt of a $350,000 grant from the City of Philadelphia — effectively cutting its funding gap in half and bumping up its estimated open date — thanks to help from Councilman Mark Squilla and the Department of Commerce.

“It’s definitely a big deal,” said Peter Frank, VP of KCFC and executive director of Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance. Read more.

Can Philly afford to maintain its huge, aging mural collection?

For 30 years, Frank Washington, the late Germantown native and Harlem Globetrotter, had watched over the intersection of Wayne and Chelten avenues. People had grown attached.

But the wall bearing his portrait recently required extensive repairs, and the likeness was no more. Read more. 

You pay what you can at the new EAT Cafe in West Philadelphia

Many Philadelphians cannot afford a quality meal.

West Philadelphia's EAT Cafe, premiering Oct. 26 in a rowhouse at 3820 Lancaster Ave., is designed to address that issue. Four evenings a week, EAT will offer tasty, nutritious dinners. When the check comes, patrons may pay whatever they wish. Read more.

West Philly Gucci House Narrowly Avoids Demolition

In the early summer of 2011, someone noticed that the residents of a building on North 50th Street in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia had decorated their house with an excellent paint job — the trademark green-and-red stripe of Gucci, with a slightly altered version of the interlocking “G” pattern found on Gucci products. Photos of the house floated around the Internet. Read more. 

Winter Squash Guide

With a dozen common varieties readily available, choosing a winter squash to prepare can be confounding for the home cook. We’ve compiled descriptions of common varieties as well as some handy tips for selecting the right squash for you and plenty of delicious squash recipes you'll love.

Delicata

Great "single-serving" squashes, perfect for halving and baking. You can serve them hot with butter and brown sugar, or stuff them with any number of fillings, from savory to sweet. Their flesh is yellow-orange, mild tasting, and quite juicy, and the rinds are tender enough to eat.

• Selection: Because they are more susceptible to breakdown than other winter squash, take care to select squash without scratches or blemishes, or they may spoil quickly.
• Best Uses: Delicata’s walls are thin, making it a quick-cooking squash. It can be sliced in 1/4-inch rings and sautéed until soft and caramelized (remove seeds first), halved and baked in 30 minutes, or broiled with olive oil or butter until caramelized.
• Other varieties: Sugar Loaf and Honey Boat are varieties of Delicata that have been crossed with Butternut. They are often extremely sweet with notes of caramel, hazelnut, and brown sugar.

Acorn

A little big for a single serving, these are classic, yellow-orange fleshed squashes. Creamy, nutty, and sweet, they're great for when you just want a cup or so of squash puree for a recipe. They are also a good size to slice or cube, without having more than you need.

• Selection: Acorn squash should be uniformly green and matte—streaks/spots of orange are fine, but too much orange indicates over ripeness and the squash will be dry and stringy.
• Best uses: baking, stuffing, mashing.
• Other varieties: all-white “Cream of the Crop,” and all-yellow “Golden Acorn.”

Heart of Gold/Festival/Carnival

These colorful, festive varieties of squash are all hybrids resulting from a cross between Sweet Dumpling and Acorn, and are somewhere between the two in size. Yellow or cream with green and orange mottling, these three can be difficult to tell apart, but for culinary purposes, they are essentially interchangeable. With a sweet nutty flavor like Dumpling, and a tender-firm texture like Acorn, they are the best of both parent varieties.

• Selection: Choose brightly colored squash that are heavy for their size.
• Best uses: baking, stuffing, broiling with brown sugar.

Butternut

The smooth textured, bright orange flesh of the butternut is perfect for cubing and roasting, or for pureeing for pies and cakes.  Bonus points for having the long neck, which can be sliced crosswise to make beautiful rounds for roasting or layering in a gratin.

• Selection: Choose the amount of squash needed by weight. One pound of butternut equals approximately 2 cups of peeled, chopped squash.
• Best uses: soups, purees, pies, recipes where smooth texture and sweetness will be highlighted.
• Other varieties: “honey nut,” a sweeter and smaller version of butternut squash.

Spaghetti

These football-sized, bright yellow squash are very different from other varieties in this family. Spaghetti squash has a pale golden interior, and is stringy and dense. After sliced in half and baked, use a fork to pry up the strands of flesh and you will see it resembles and has the texture of perfectly cooked spaghetti noodles. These squash are not particularly sweet but have a mild flavor that takes to a wide variety of preparations.

• Selection: choose a bright yellow squash that is free of blemishes and soft spots.
• Best uses: baked and separated, then mixed with pesto, tomato sauce, or your favorite pasta topping.

Pie Pumpkins

Pie pumpkins differ from larger carving pumpkins in that they have been bred for sweetness and not for size. They are uniformly orange and round with an inedible rind, and are sold alongside other varieties of winter squash (unlike carving pumpkins which are usually displayed separately from winter squash). These squash are mildly sweet and have a rich pumpkin flavor that is perfect for pies and baked goods. They make a beautiful centerpiece when hollowed out and filled with pumpkin soup.

• Selection: Choose a pie pumpkin that has no hint of green and still has a stem attached; older pumpkins may lose their stems.
• Best uses: pies, custards, baked goods, curries and stews.

Hubbard

Good for feeding a crowd, these huge, bumpy textured squash look a bit like a giant gray lemon, tapered at both ends and round in the middle. A common heirloom variety, Blue Hubbard has an unusual, brittle blue-gray outer shell, a green rind, and bright orange flesh. Unlike many other winter squashes, they are only mildly sweet, but have a buttery, nutty flavor and a flaky, dry texture similar to a baked potato.

• Selection: Choose a squash based on size—1 pound equals approximately 2 cups of chopped squash (tip: if you don’t have use for the entire squash, some produce departments will chop these into smaller pieces for you).
• Best Uses: baked or mashed, topped with butter, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
• Other varieties: Golden or Green Hubbard, Baby Blue Hubbard.

Kabocha (Green or Red)

Kabocha can be dark green with mottled blue-gray striping, or a deep red-orange color that resembles Red Kuri. You can tell the difference between red Kabocha and Red Kuri by their shape: Kabocha is round but flattened at stem end, instead of pointed. The flesh is smooth, dense, and intensely yellow. They are similar in sweetness and texture to a sweet potato.

• Selection: Choose heavy, blemish free squash. They may have a golden or creamy patch where they rested on the ground.
• Best Uses: curries, soups, stir-fry, salads.
• Other varieties: Buttercup, Turban, Turk’s Turban.

Red Kuri

These vivid orange, beta carotene-saturated squash are shaped like an onion, or teardrop. They have a delicious chestnut-like flavor, and are mildly sweet with a dense texture that holds shape when steamed or cubed, but smooth and velvety when pureed, making them quite versatile.

• Selection: Select a smooth, uniformly colored squash with no hint of green.
• Best Uses: Thai curries, soups, pilafs and gratins, baked goods.
• Other varieties: Hokkaido, Japanese Uchiki.

Sweet Dumpling

These small, four- to-six-inch round squash are cream-colored with green mottled streaks and deep ribs similar to Acorn. Pale gold on the inside, with a dry, starchy flesh similar to a potato, these squash are renowned for their rich, honey-sweet flavor.

• Selection: pick a smooth, blemish-free squash that is heavy for its size and is evenly colored. Avoid a squash that has a pale green tint as it is underripe.
• Best uses: baking with butter and cinnamon.

Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop

All about the dough

Pie is one of those treats that is incredibly versatile. The size, shape and design can be tailored to the baker’s liking and fillings can be easily changed to reflect the season.

But, the best part of the pie? The crust.

Follow our basic guide to create the best homemade crust this holiday season.

The 3:2:1 pie dough ratio

The most flaky, tender crust comes down to a simple 3:2:1 ratio of ingredients—flour, fat, water— no actual recipe needed. This is the basics foundation for not only pies, but also tarts, galettes, pot pies, hand pies and more.

The “3” in this ratio is flour. Pastry flour contains less gluten than all-purpose flour and therefore creates a more tender crust, but all-purpose flour will work just fine if that’s what you have on hand.

The “2” is fat. Butter is the most common type of fat used, but other solid fats will work as well. Lard produces a flaky crust; coconut oil can be used to create a vegan crust. Substitute chicken or bacon fat for a portion of the fat in savory applications. Whatever fat you choose, it must be cold and solid - no liquid oils as they don't create the necessary air pockets for a light, flaky crust.

The “1” is ice cold water. Dissolve about 1/4 teaspoon of salt per batch to make the water extra cold.

The amounts in the 3:2:1 ratio refer to the weight (e.g. 3 oz. flour, 2 oz. fat, 1 oz. water). With those exact measurements you could make a pie crust, but it would be quite small. To know exactly how much dough you need you must first know how big your pie pan is. A basic rule of thumb: one inch of pan equals one ounce of dough. Using the standard nine inch pie pan, follow this recipe:

4.5 ounces flour + 3 ounces fat + 1.5 ounces water + 1/4 teaspoon salt = 9 ounces

Don't have a kitchen scale? Never fear. One cup of flour weighs roughly 4.5 ounces. How convenient! And 1 ounce equals 2 tablespoons. With this in mind, here’s the same recipe as above for a single batch:

1 cup flour + 6 tablespoons fat + 3 tablespoons water + 1/4 teaspoon salt = 9 ounces

Making a pie that requires a top crust? Just double the recipe.

How to mix pie dough

The most important step is cutting the cold fat into the flour. If you don’t do this, you’ll lose the flakiness. The easiest way to do this is with a food processor. Add your flour and then your cold fat (cut up into smaller tablespoon-size chunks). Now pulse the machine until the mixture creates pea-size pieces of fat evenly distributed throughout the flour.

With the machine running, stream in your water until the mixture forms a dough. You may need to add slightly more water if your mixture is too crumbly, but don’t add too much more or your crust will turn out tough. A little crumble is what you’re looking for.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can cut your butter using a pastry blender: two butter knives. Put your flour in a bowl, add your cold butter or other fat and start cutting away until you get those pea-size pieces. Make a well in the middle of your mixture, add your water and combine by hand until a dough forms.

Chill pie dough before using

Chilling the dough prior to baking is key. If you’re making a single batch, form the dough into a disk, wrap it up and place it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. If you’re making a double batch, divide the dough in two and do the same thing.

Authored by Megan Dom. Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop.

Local Apple Guide

With tons of local apples to pick from this season, it's hard to determine which to choose. Compare sweetness, crunchiness, juiciness, and color using our local apple guide below.

Photos provided by Common Market. 

Planning for Thanksgiving

Holiday gatherings don’t need to be elaborate or stressful. Whether you’re entertaining a couple or a crowd, Mariposa is here to help. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

How much food will you need?

These general guidelines will help you plan the correct amount of food to make or purchase.

Great beginnings

Set out a tray or two of snacks before the main meal; it’s a great way to welcome guests.

• Fresh dates served with a spiced, roasted nut mix
• Artisanal cheese tray of local cheeses, with fine flatbread crackers and crostini
• Crispy raw vegetables and a selection of dips, like soft chevre blended with herbs, hummus with a swirl of fresh or prepared pesto, or garlicky aioli
• Meat or veggie paté, sausage bites, cooked shrimp and smoked fish with spicy mustard sauce and baguette slices

Delicious desserts

An alternative (or addition) to the traditional pie makes for a memorable ending.

• Homemade brownies topped with mint or vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce
• A selection of chocolate truffles served with freshly-baked cookies
• Warm brie glazed with apricot preserves and sprinkled with toasted pecans or walnuts

Kid Friendly Veggie Skeleton

Ingredients

• 1 jicama, peeled
• 1 head of cauliflower florets
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 orange pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• 24 green beans
• 2 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 5 broccoli florets
• 1 mushroom, sliced
• 2 black olives, 1 sliced, 1 diced
• 1/4 cup arugula
• 1 cup hummus (for dipping)
• 1 medium pumpkin (optional)

Preparation

Skull

Pick a platter for the background. Cut peeled jicama in half. Using the peeler, peel the sides of the jicama until it is pear shaped. The wider end will be the top of the skull. It should be full and rounded. Start narrowing the sides about half way down and round off the bottom. This will be the jaw. The narrow end is the jaw of the skull. Carve a flat spot near the bottom for the mouth. Carve two flat spots near the top for eyes. Place the skull at the top of the platter.

Spine

For the spine, arrange cauliflower florets in a row under the skull. Pile red, orange, and yellow pepper slices on either side of the cauliflower for ribs.

Arms and hands

Stack 3 beans on each side for upper arms. Stack 3 more on each side for lower arms. Put a cherry tomato half on each side between the upper and lower stacks for elbows. Add zucchini slices for palms. Make fingers out of carrot slices.

The rest of the body

Arrange 5 broccoli florets at the bottom of the spine for hips. Make upper legs by stacking 3 green beans on each side of the broccoli. Make lower legs by stacking 3 green beans on each side below the upper legs. For knees place half a cherry tomato between the stacks on each side. For feet cut a mushroom slice in half.

Face and hair

Put round slices of olive on jicama for eyes. Add diced olive for the nose and teeth. Arrange arugula under the jicama for spooky hair.

Serving Suggestions

Hollow out a pumpkin and put a bowl full of hummus inside as a tasty dip. Arrange leftover veggies in a dish on the side.

Reprinted by permission from StrongerTogether.coop. Find articles about your food and where it comes from, recipes and a whole lot more at www.strongertogether.coop.