The Endive Chronicles

The arrival of squash in the produce stalls seems to herald in the holiday season and these days squash has been popping up everywhere. During this time of year chefs, bloggers and home cooks around the world are inspired to cook and create with these wonderfully diverse gourds, inspiring me to come up with this weeks recipe. My squash of choice: the butternut.

Butternut squash has a sweet flavor, velvety texture and is one of the more popular varieties found. This variety as with many types of squash pair exceptionally well with cream, but I wanted to go a bit healthier route and decided to add a creamy quality through the addition of white beans. I chose navy beans for their texture and rich, but smooth flavor. It was a simple choice.

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Chanterelle mushrooms are plentiful here in the great PNW (as are many types of fungus and mold), I think it has something to do with our wet climate. Just one more reason to welcome the rain instead of curse it. These fluted fungi are a rare treasure and their appearance in the produce stalls is an even I anticipate with baited breath. Happily, the markets are currently filled with magnificent mounds of them, just begging to be eaten.

As we are at the height on chanterelle season now, I am on the hunt. No, I am not tromping around the forest foraging my own mushrooms, rather I have been going from market to stall trying to seek out the best price on the best chanterelles and I found it. Corner Produce is one of my top two produce stalls* in Pike Place Market, they carry lovely fresh produce with a wide variety from local sources. The other day they had the most amazing looking chanterelles foraged that very morning from right here in Western Washington for $7.99 a pound. Most places had them for between $14-$19 a pound. So, I bought a pound and began to plan my dish on the walk home feeling quite satisfied with myself. I saved my jig of joy for home.

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Initially I had planned to wait and share this weeks recipe with you closer to the holiday season, but a time crunch and a touch of mental blockage have led me to speed things up. The holidays may not start for most of you for a while, but for me it is a different story.

This time of year it would seem that we are constantly finding things to celebrate and about every two weeks something special seems to happen. Usually our celebrations don’t start until Halloween, however this year they ramped up earlier than normal with the wedding of two dear friends in Boston last weekend*. We celebrate everything from our wedding anniversary to the birth of this website to the national holidays I love so much with several other celebration in between. This year I am armed with a few great new party dresses (not to mention a bridesmaid dress**)  and am relying on this delicious new recipe to get me to the new year with ease and style. Continue Reading »