Butternut Squash moves to the Southwest and spends its days in a spicy red pool.
Dinner dilemma: I had some frozen polenta pieces, and a butternut squash. I also had chipotle chiles from a can I'd opened earlier in the week that needed to be used.
Southwestern Butternut Squash and Polenta? Why not, I thought? Butternut squash would look really striking with black beans, sort of Halloween-y. Earlier in the week I'd experimented with a chipotle sauce that would provide a pool for the polenta to rest upon. And for the top, I could quickly whip up a creamy dollop-y sauce with the coriander (cilantro) and lime I'd bought at the Asian food store.
Within minutes, I was in business, chopping, whizzing, roasting, and simmering. The chipotle sauce is very quick to make, and while the butternut was roasting I defrosted the polenta and sauteéd some onions.
Altogether, I spent less than an hour making dinner (admittedly shorter since I'd already made the polenta). But it tasted like I'd spent hours in the kitchen. There's something about the texture surge of the crisp-fried polenta bathed in the red sauce, speared on a fork with the bean mixture and topped with silky cilantro cream that really wakes up the taste buds and even causes sentences to run on. Whew!
This is a great dish to make ahead: Freeze the polenta, make the Chipotle Sauce and the Cilantro Cream a day before serving time, and all you need do is roast the squash and warm up the bean mixture and serve.
Beware, though: You'll want to season according to your needs. Those chipotles are mighty fierce, but the creamy cilantro-tofu sauce tames them somewhat.
Polenta triangles:
4 cups water
1 cup polenta
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine
1 tablespoon olive oil
In a heavy saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt and polenta, slowly, whisking all the while. Lower heat and stir, about 10-15 minutes until polenta is very thick. Remove from heat. Pour into a 9x13 or slightly smaller pan, treated with cooking spray. Allow to set at room temperature for an hour or so, or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut firm polenta into large squares, then cut each square diagonally so you get triangle shapes, about 3-4 inches long. In a heavy skillet or a ridged grill pan, heat the margarine and olive oil. (If you wish, you may delete the margarine and instead double the olive oil, or use as much as you need to cover the bottom of your pan.) When the pan is hot, lay the triangles in the oil and saute until they begin to turn golden brown. Turn and repeat the grilling on the other side. (It takes about 7 minutes for each side. You can do this ahead and keep the polenta warm while you assemble the remaining ingredients.)
Butternut Squash and Black Beans:
1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
1 red chile, minced
1 can black beans
Toss the butternut squash pieces with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt. Bake at 400F/180C for 30 minutes, or until squash pieces are tender.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon olive oil in a skillet and add the onion. Fry 5-7 minutes and add the garlic, cumin and chile.
Drain the black beans and add to the frying pan with the onions. Heat the beans and when the squash is done, add to the pan with the black beans. Stir in ¼ cup water and heat through. Let it sit on a back burner until you're ready to serve, and reheat if necessary.
Chipotle Sauce:
2 chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce OR 2 chipotle peppers, rehydrated
1 cup passata or tomato puree
1 cup vegetable stock
In a blender, puree chipotle peppers for a few seconds. Add the passata. Pour into a small saucepan and add the stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer until ready to serve.
Note: More adventurous taste buds will appreciate more chipotles, but three or possibly four is as many as you want to add. They're deceptively hot. If you add too many, you'll want to double the remaining ingredients to even out the score, so be sure you have extra passata and stock on hand.
Cilantro Cream
1 package silken tofu
1 cup cilantro (coriander) leaves
juice of 1 lime
¼ teaspoon salt
In a blender or food processer, whiz the tofu until it's creamy and free of lumps. Add the cilantro, lime juice and salt and process until the cilantro is pulverized into bits. Refrigerate until ready to use.
To serve:
Spoon a couple of ladles of Chipotle Sauce on a plate. Lay a piece (or two) of the polenta in the sauce and top with the bean mixture, and a dollop of Cilantro Tofu Cream. Garnish with cilantro leaves if you wish.