It's Almost Downright Chilly - Pork and Squash Stew With Chiles And Marinated Onion And Spicy Pepitas

The summer weather has finally broken....we think...we hope....

Time to bring out the arsenal of soups, stews and slow cooker comfort dishes. The Colonel has made a request for French Onion Soup. I will get to that soon.

Dias de los Muertos is also coming up and I have been mulling menu ideas for November 1.

But for now, there is 3 pounds of pork shoulder in the freezer unused in the Slow Cooker Italian Pork Stew recently, and I have found the perfect vehicle: Pork and Squash Stew With Chiles.

I have made a few changes, adding cumin along with the coriander, spicing up the pepitas and intending to also use the Kabocha squash seeds, roasted, like you'd do with pumpkin seeds.

I have never worked with Kabocha or Delicata squashes before. I even failed to look up images before I went to the store. I figured, accurately as it turns out, that all the supermarkets have their seasonal squash displays out, along with ornamental corn, and I was sure to find the right varieties. Or find Helpful Produce Guy (or Gal).

It wasn't too difficult. I was surprised to find that there are several varieties of Acorn squash, a kind I was familiar with in its green form. I couldn't believe how many types there were. Yellow, white, orange, and the familiar green, as far as the eye could see. I found the Kabocha fairly quickly, aided by stickers on the squashes. After that, I kept pushing mountains of Butternut and Acorn aside, but I
failed to find a squash that had a chance of being a Delicata.

Finally, I spied a candidate possessing a different shape from the others: small, but enlongated, with ridges. The size was about the length of a good-sized zucchini and about twice as wide. The first one I saw had no sticker and there was no produce department person nearby, so I kept hunting for one with a sticker.

After pushing another mountain of Acorns, Butternuts and Kabochas aside, I had my identified specimen. Success!

It's a very pretty squash. I read up on both when I returned, having never attempted to break down the two varieties. In both cases, the literature stated you could eat the peel, but the consensus was less confident about the Kabocha's peel. At that point, I checked the recipe.



The recipe called for peeling the Kabocha but not the Delicata. I had my strategy.

The Kabocha was no more difficult than a Butternut. It's a hard squash and you have to get the point of a knife in, and rock it down the mid section to split it. Then you have the usual scraping out of the innards and seeds. But when you get it all scraped out, you have the bounty: SEEDS!

I decided to go ahead and roast the seeds and since there were not that many, rather than a snack, they could be another topping for the stew along with the pepitas. The problem became that although many recipes I consulted spoke to a temperature of some 400 to 450 degrees, and a cooking time of 20 to 30 minutes, I completely fried the poor things and smelled up the place for hours. The bright side: smoke alarms didn't fire off. Yes, alarms. We have two in the living room alone, for some inexplicable reason.

Oh well. We had plenty of pepitas, and my trick was to roast them with oil and Tajin seasoning. Yum!

The Delicata was a pleasure to work with. You can cut it much like a zucchini, although the scraping is a little more difficult. The seeds are too small to be usable for roasting. The thinly sliced cross section where beautiful before cooking and in the finished stew.

The stew has a great depth of flavor, owing to the the dried chiles, the other spices and the lovely toppings. I served this with flour tortillas.

Mangia!

Pork and Squash Stew with Chiles
Adapted from Bon Appetit

INGREDIENTS

3 pound boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 2" pieces

1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon cumin

10 garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1 tablespoon Tajin, or Chile Lime seasoning

8 dried New Mexico or guajillo chiles

2 chiles de árbol or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 large yellow onions, cut into 1/8"-thick wedges, divided

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus 2 teaspoons for the pepitas

4 sprigs oregano

1/2 kabocha squash (about 1 pound), peeled, seeds removed, cut into 1" pieces

1 delicata squash, seeds removed, cut into 1/2"-thick slices

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Cilantro sprigs (for serving)

PREPARATION

Combine pork, coriander, half of garlic, and 1 tablespoon salt in a large bowl; season with pepper and toss. Cover; chill at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss the seeds with 2 teaspoons oil and the Tajin seasoning. Toast pumpkin seeds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes; set aside.

Toast chiles on clean baking sheet until slightly darkened, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then remove stems, and seeds, if you prefer less heat. Place chiles, half of yellow onion, remaining garlic, crushed red pepper and 1 cup hot water in a blender; let sit 10 minutes to soften chiles. Blend until smooth; set chile purée aside.

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook pork, turning occasionally, until browned, 8–10 minutes; transfer to a plate.

Pour off fat from pot. Cook chile purée in pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, 8–10 minutes. Add pork, oregano, remaining yellow onion, and 10 cups water to pot; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, skimming occasionally, until pork is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

If stew seems runny, make a slurry of 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and stir into stew.

Toss red onion and lime juice in a small bowl; let sit, tossing occasionally, 30 minutes.

Add squash to stew and cook, uncovered, until pork is falling apart and squash is soft, 20 minutes. Check for tenderness. You want them tender but not falling-apart-mushy. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve stew with red onion, cilantro, and reserved pumpkin seeds.

DO AHEAD: Pork can be marinated 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Stew can be made 3 days ahead; let cool, then cover and chill.