Week 26--Summer Squash

This is a very special week for me and I'm very excited about it.  If you are Mexican or have a Mexican friend or relative you know that "calabazitas" are a comfort food for us.  I grew up eating mostly white squash but since moving to this country I have come to embrace all the different varieties pictured above.

Our ancestors knew the land and worked with rather than against it.   The Milpa is a traditional farming method which consisted of growing 4 or more different crops together with complimentary nutritional and environmental properties.  Traditionally the milpa contains squash, corn, beans, and tomatillos.  The bean plant is nitrogen fixing and it also provides amino acids that the corn lacks.  Squash and tomatillos provide vitamins absent in the other crops and they serve as ground cover to keep moisture from evaporating.  In this sense farmers were not as reliant on chemical fertilizers or pesticides.  .

This week I prepare for you a Summer Squash Picadillo.  Here is what you will need:

Ingredients

1lb ground beef or turkey (When selecting beef choose organic, 100% grassfed beef as it contains Omega 3s which help reduce inflammation in the body)

1 large onion chopped

2 pasilla peppers seeded and chopped

3 to 4 lbs Summer Squash, chopped (I chose a variety as pictured above)

5 to 6 cooked tomatoes, chopped or 6 to 8 cooked tomatillos chopped (Note:  for a shortcut I used a bottled organic tomatillo salsa from Trader Joes.  You can find it in the chips section.

1/2 a beer (any kind will do but I used a Hawaiian dark beer this time around)

3 to 4 garlic cloves minced

1TB cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup of fresh cilantro chopped

Directions

1. Cover large saucepan with cooking spray and brown meat until no longer pink.  Add cumin, salt and pepper.

2. Add onion and cook for approximately 3 minutes.

3. Add pasilla peppers and cook an additional 5 minutes.

4. Add squash and garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant.

5. Add beer and cook for about a minute or two, then add tomatoes, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. (Optional:  At this time you can add fresh or frozen corn, peas, or any other vegetable you will like)/  I added about a cup of organic succotash found in the frozen section at Trader Joes.

6. Add more salt and pepper as needed.

7. Turn off heat and stir in cilantro.

8. Serve with herbed rice and enjoy!