In mid to late summer, my mother spends her time racing to keep up with the courgettes as they attempt to take over the garden. Unfortunately the usual summer inhabitants of our home are mostly my father’s family, all of whom despise vegetables. In Borough Market today I found a display that shows what happens if you give in to the in-laws and fail to gather the courgettes.
It had never occurred to me that squashes and pumpkins belong to the same family (Cucurbitaceae) as cucumbers and melons, but once it’s pointed out, it makes a lot of sense. Their seeds are virtually identical (although no-one’s ever tried to make me eat toasted watermelon seeds) and it also explains the cursed sweetness of many squashes.
I have always been appalled by the idea of the traditional American pumpkin pie with marshmallows, an obligatory part of the Thanksgiving dinner, but it is a recognition of the undeniable sugariness of the orange globe.
I have recently given in to the blandishments of the butternut squash, but only those recipes that use chilli, cheese or citrus flavours to offset the sweetness really convince me. Puréed squash on its own is too cloying for my palate.
A soup of butternut squash with toasted hazelnuts, fresh ginger and lemon is delicious, although I slightly have the feeling that this is because the added ingredients successfully disguise the flavour. That’s not a good sign. Perhaps I should stick to the decorative squashes my mother started to grow this year, assuaging her desire to grow the vegetables without putting pressure on her relationship with those who sit at the table saying “Ugh. Zucchini. Ugh.”
2 comments:
sweet potatoes have been one of my great discoveries of the last few years. I can't imagine having roast chicken without throwing in a few cubes of sweet potato with the roasties (but then we are a family who like red currant jelly with our roasts too - so sweet with savoury no problem). American friends of ours who did the traditional Thanksgiving dinner while they were over did sweet potato mash with marshmallow, and while I was scepticalat first, I thought it was delicious. When we were over in the States last year we stopped at a road side diner for lunch and I ordered a roast sweet potato for the baby (who was seven months old). It came wrapped in tin foil with a side helping of cinnamon butter. Yummy.
Don't knock pumpkin pie either. I do my mother's pie every halloween. It's spicy and delicious. I must dig out the recipe for this year.
Pumpkin Pie, good enough to make me cry, cold and creamy, deliciously firm. Standing at the fridge, inhaling its scent, spice and cream and the rich taste of pumpkin waiting to be sucked from the fork. And when I was in San Diego, my God, the gourmet cheesecake restaurant sold Pumpkin Cheesecake - a perfect meld of my two favourite desserts. I've never ventured into the realm of marshmallows with it, why bother? But I feel sad, so sad, for all those who are unable to appreciate Pumpkin Pie....
Jo
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