Butternut Squash, Apple & Pear Curry

You can easily make this on the stove top or in a slow cooker. If you like some "kick," you can add some fresh chili pepper or cayenne pepper. To thicken the curry, I use some cornstarch and water. "Cornstarch" is the North American term, but in England and other parts of Britain and many former British colonies, the term used is "cornflour."

Ingredients:

3 to 4 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (1 medium to large butternut squash)
1 1/2 cups chopped apple (you can leave the peel on, if you'd like)
1 1/2 cups chopped pear (should be firm, not soft, and you can leave the peel on, if you'd like)
2 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped or sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1/3 cup chopped green onions (including most of the green)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2/3 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
(optional) 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper and/or 1 fresh red or green chili pepper, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water, mixed very well 
1 can coconut milk (about 13.5 to 14 ounces, depending upon brand)
serve with rice

Put all ingredients, except the cornstarch/water mixture and the coconut milk, into a slow cooker or a heavy bottomed pan. If using a slow cooker, set on "high" for one hour, then turn to low and let the curry cook for another three hours, or until the squash, in particular, is just about tender. You don't want the squash, apple and pear pieces falling apart mushy though, and the dish will cook a little more, so the squash will be completely tender by then. If cooking on the stove top, set the heat to low and cover the pan from the beginning; otherwise, the liquid will evaporate, but just check the curry occasionally, stir it a bit, then replace the lid. When the squash is tender, stir in the cornstarch mixture and allow the curry to thicken, then stir in the coconut milk and let the curry heat up completely again. Serve with rice.

WORD HISTORY:
Rural-This word is related through Indo European to "room," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Rural" goes back to Indo European "reu/rew/row," with the basic notion of "open space." This gave Latin the noun "rus," meaning, "open land, countryside, farm land." Its genitive form was "ruris," which produced the Latin adjective "ruralis" and meaning, "of, or relating to, the countryside." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "rural," with the same meaning. English borrowed the word in the first quarter of the 1400s.

German Pumpkin or Squash in Vinegar: Essigkürbis

Kürbis is the German word for squash, generally, but also for pumpkin, a specific kind of squash, and also for "gourd" (see Word History, below). This preparation is called "Kürbis in Essig" (Pumpkin/Squash in Vinegar), or as is common in German, the two words are simply combined into one as, "Essigkürbis." "Essig" means vinegar, and "Essig" is a word German borrowed from Latin and it is a relative of English "acid," also a borrowing, the older forms of which in English were "æced" and "eced," and like with their German relative, they both meant "vinegar" (vinegar is also a borrowed word in English). This "pumpkin/squash in vinegar" is also termed "eingelegter Kürbis," which means "pickled or preserved pumpkin/squash." *

This pumpkin or squash is typically put into sterilized glass jars or stoneware crocks that can be sealed and kept on the shelf in a cool place for later use, but I didn't do this, as I made just enough to use now and within a short period of time. You can always adjust the recipe for a larger amount, but I kept it for a relatively small amount. The produce stands I buy from were out of actual pumpkin, but they did have acorn squash, so I bought and used a large acorn squash (it gave me about 5 1/2 cups of bite-sized chunks, and it does cook down somewhat). Good as an accompaniment to roasted pork or game, but also good with pork schnitzel and fried potatoes (German: Bratkartoffeln).   

Ingredients:

5 to 6 cups bite-size chunks of pumpkin or squash (acorn or butternut squash)
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup water 
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
3 to 4 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
5 whole cloves
5 black peppercorns, crushed (not obliterated, just crushed a little so that they release their flavor easily, or use the largest grind setting on a pepper mill)
1 cinnamon stick
peel of 1/2 lemon
(optional, for those who like some 'heat,' 1 or 2 whole hot red chilies, dried or fresh)** 

Peel the pumpkin or squash and remove the seeds. Cut it into bite-size pieces. In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring the squash, white wine vinegar, water, sugar, cloves, crushed black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, lemon peel and ginger (the chilies too, if using) to a simmer. Cook until the squash softens some, but is not mushy. Let the squash cool and then put it and the brine mixture into a non-reactive dish (I used a small glass casserole dish). Remember, vinegar can literally eat into metal containers or pans, releasing the metal into the food, and then making you sick. Give the squash a minimum of a few hours in the refrigerator before serving, but it will be even better the next day.    

* "Eingelegt(er)" is from the compound verb "einlegen," which has a number of meanings, including its literal meaning, "(to) inlay" (legen is a close relative of English "lay," which was once also spelled with a "g," or even a double "g" by some), or "(to) insert," but in this case the meaning likely refers to "infusing with the pickling solution."   

** German foods and "hot and spicy" are not typically used in the same sentence, but I have seen German recipes for this squash with chilies included, so I made it optional. While I like spicy food, I did not include the chilies when I made this squash. 

 The top photo shows actual pumpkin, while the bottom photo is of acorn squash ...

WORD HISTORY:
Gourd-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, although it is likely related in some way to "cucumber." It's history is a bit shaky. It goes back to Latin "cucurbita," which meant "gourd" (hollowed out gourds were used as containers for liquids), but where Latin got this word is not known, although it has long been "suspected" to have come from some non-Indo European language of the eastern Mediterranean. The ancestor of "cucumber" is Latin "cucumis," and the origin of this word is also unknown, but it is "suspected" to be from the same or related source as "cucurbita," as the similarity of the two words, and the similarity in the plant types and plant fruits sure seem to connect them as relatives. Anyway, Latin "cucurbita," "perhaps" with a shortened spoken Latin form "curbita," gave Old French "coorde," which also meant "gourd." This was "gourde" in the Norman dialect carried to England and it was borrowed by English in the late 1200s. The Latin form "curbita," perhaps in some dialectal form, was borrowed into some West Germanic languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), which had "cyrfet," which meant "gourd." Middle Low German had "körves,"Middle Dutch had "corbes," and Old High German had "kurbiʒ" (the "ʒ" represents the sound "zh" present in a number of English words, including "usual" (uʒual), which became modern German "Kürbis," all meaning "gourd." The German word later came to also be applied to pumpkins and other squash, which came into more widespread use in Europe after they began to arrive from the New World.       

Acorn or Butternut Squash & Sage Tart

This was my own idea, so if anything goes wrong, blame someone else. That may not sound right, but I'll get Sarah Huckabee Sanders to explain it to you later. I used an acorn squash about the size of a softball. Actually... I checked and found that the diameter of a softball is typically 3.8 inches or 9.65 centimeters. Just before I put the squash mix into the pie shell, I had a brilliant, very brilliant, idea. I'll have Sarah Huckabee Sanders explain how brilliant I am later and she'll tell you with a totally straight face. That girl can lie without batting an eye. Anyway, I added some mushrooms to the ingredients. You can use whatever you have, but use only one portabello (also spelled, "portobello") mushroom, as they are so big. I happened to have a few shiitake mushrooms, so I used those.    


Ingredients:

1 acorn or butternut squash
1  9 inch pie shell
about 10 fresh sage leaves, torn into 3 pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
3 mushroom caps, chopped 
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten

First, heat the oven to 325 F. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash cut side down in a shallow ovenproof pan or on a baking sheet (foil or parchment paper lined makes for easier clean up). Bake for about 1 hour, or until a knife or fork can be easily inserted into each half. Scoop out the flesh of the squash into a bowl and let it cool a bit. Put the pie shell into your preheated 375 F oven for about 6 or 8 minutes, just to firm it up. Mash the squash flesh and then add the sage leaves, the dried sage, the chopped mushrooms, the cayenne, the salt, the pepper, the flour, the cream and the beaten egg. Mix very well with a large spoon. The mixture should be very thick. Fill the pie shell with the squash mixture and bake it for approximately 45 minutes, but check it at the 30 minute mark. The tart can be served warm or cold.

WORD HISTORY: 
Squash-English has more than one word of this spelling, but this is the noun for the general name of the vegetable, of which there are a number of varieties. This is a shortening of a compound word, "askutasquash," from Narragansett, a language of the Algonquian languages of North America.^ The word meant, "thing eaten raw," with the "askut" part meaning, "green;" thus also, "raw," and  "asquash" meaning, "eaten."   

^ Some of the best known other members of this language family are Shawnee, Cheyenne, Cree and Arapaho, but there are many others.