Some words
Amidst the chaos of my kitchen, while absorbed in the act of imbuing this dish with a daily dose of magic, the organic imperfection of a large shiitake mushroom struck me. And I felt the impulse to grab my camera and snap a photograph. There was a quality of aged wisdom to it that I had never picked up from mushrooms before. It made me think of how we often don’t value aging and the imperfections that come as a consequence of the most natural process there is: growing out of ourselves with every season’s cycle. The imperfections of aging make us unique, and as such we should honor them. This Samhain season, I focus my intention on appreciating the wisdom that may come from receding into oneself in a late autumn cocoon.
I took my time to develop, fine-tune, and concoct this recipe to enhance all the flavors of the autumnal harvest. I used crispy, pre-toasted quinoa instead of rice for a protein boost of a meal, plus honey squash, shiitake mushrooms, and tender purple kale leaves, small leaves because the morning frost is stunting my garden growth. Life is beginning its slumber at last.
Prep Time: 50-55 min | Cook Time: 35-40 min | Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 small honey squash, appx 3 cups when cut into 1” cubes
- A bunch of shiitake mushrooms
- 2 small carrots
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 large sweet potato, (jewel type is preferable)
- 2 cups baby purple kale
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup quinoa
- ½ cup fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp coconut cream
- 3 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
- 1 tbsp fresh sage leaves
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp salt
Method
Toast the quinoa in a non-stick frying pan for 2 or 3 minutes. Set aside. In the same pan, toast the pumpkin seeds until fragrant. Set aside separately from the quinoa.
In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the quinoa and cook until the grain has cracked, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside.
On a cutting board, peel, deseed, and cut the squash into 1” cubes. Set aside in a bowl or container large enough to toss all the trimmed vegetables together. Peel and chop the carrots and onion, and add to the container. Scrub the sweet potato while rinsing it under cold tap water, chop into 1” cubes, and add it to the container. Rinse and pat dry the herbs while discarding the stems. Sprinkle over the trimmed vegetables in the container. Toss everything in coconut cream and salt.
In a large skillet, melt the coconut oil and add the seasoned vegetables. Cover with the lid and cook for 7-8 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon every now and then. Add a sip of water if the vegetables seem to stick to the pan. At this stage, incorporate the cranberries and continue to cook, lid on, for 3-4 minutes.
Gently brush the fresh shiitake to remove any soil or moss particles that may still be attached to the stem, cap, and gills. Add the mushrooms, whole or sliced, to the vegetables. Cook for 5 more minutes and then incorporate the pre-cooked quinoa, toasted pumpkin seeds and whole, rinsed kale leaves. Toss the combined paella ingredients in the skillet for 5 minutes, no lid this time, and adjust the salt if necessary. Serve warm (with a side of warm apple cider, may I suggest).
EXTRAS AND TIPS
If really necessary, rinse the mushrooms in a bowl of water, preferably at room temperature. Shiitake are fairly fragile and they must be handled with care.
The recipe calls for “jewel” type of sweet potato (light tan skin and lighter orange interior) because their sweetness cuts nicely through the tartness of the cranberries and earthiness of the herbs and mushroom.
The general rule when substituting fresh with dry herbs is the “1:3 ratio”, which indicates that approximately 1 part of dry herbs replaces 3 parts of fresh herbs. When using dried herbs in this recipe, substitute as follows: 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 ½ tsp dried sage, 1 scant tsp dried thyme.
