QotD: In Season

What fruits and vegetables are in season where you live?  Have you incorporated them into your recipes?

Eating seasonal food is an idea I had to blog about for a while now and is one the best ways to guarantee good tasting food and allows for a great possibility of purchasing local food.  Although the produce pickings were a little scarcer than I had imagined, I spent several Saturday mornings and early afternoons this summer cruising around the city on my bike to different farmers markets.  Browsing gave me ideas of things to try and kept me thinking about using more seasonal produce. 

In the Midwest we are on the cusp of the end of summer / beginning of fall seasonal food.  Last week I made stuffed (bell) peppers that were stuffed with red cabbage, carrots onion, tofu, garlic, brown rice and seasoned with Bragg.  This was a great use of seasonal food and it was delicious.  I wish I would have taken a few pictures, but I was more focused on prepping and eating than blogging.

For the fall side of the spectrum squashes are now beginning to be in season.  October is my favorite month and squashes are apart of that.  One of the benefits of seasonal food  is that they match the feeling of the season.  Eating warm squash on a crisp fall day just feels right.  I picked up this squash a couple days ago and can't wait to eat it. 

Butternut squash

The curve also reminded me of the bean.

Squash - bean

I had composed the bulk of the post above about a week ago and have since made a simple, yet delicious dish with the squash.

Squash & toasted walnuts

To make this dish, turn the oven to 350 and get some brown rice started.  Next halve a butternut squash, remove the seeds, coat the flesh with olive oil, salt, pepper and throw in the oven on a sheet pan (cut side up) for 45 or so minutes until fork tender. 

Baked squash

This is the simplest way to season it, but sage and nutmeg are a great way to go, a little maple syrup is nice, but before spring comes you should also try curry.  To serve, place a bed of brown rice in a bowl or on a plate, remove the squash from the skin and top with pan roasted walnuts.  I also splashed on a little Braggs, but this is prime for a drizzle of thick maple syrup.  Finally, eat!