As we open the calendar to the January page, we may wish to pay more attention to the food we eat and how we nourish our bodies. Then, as the month goes on, our daily to-do lists get longer and such wishes are pushed aside. When life gets complicated, sometimes summoning the energy to plan and make dinner feels like an insurmountable task. That’s a red flag: Self-care should never become less than a top priority.
To avoid such situations, I like to have ingredients that allow me to prepare something without too much thinking and with minimal effort. Also, I make sure I have at least one container of leftovers that can be quickly reheated. This way, I have no excuse for not sitting down to a nutritious meal. The result needs to be palatable, something to get my mood back onto positive territory via my tastebuds.
I need vegetables, lots of them. For dinner, my main meal of the day, I like to have a salad and a hot vegetable dish, which could be a soup, like Romanesco broccoli soup (“It’s Cold Outside, Let’s Make Soup,” Dec. 2, 2021).
For summer salads, I harvest from my raised bed: now I rely on local farmers to grow various lettuces and other leafy ingredients, such as arugula, radicchio and microgreens. Additional ingredients to mix for variety are cone cabbage, sliced thin, and grated root vegetables, such as salad turnips, radishes and carrots. Seasonal fruit like kiwis or citrus help balance out the flavor profile (“Take Time for Salad,” March 23, 2023).
Once you have the ingredients, assembling a salad takes little time. If one dish is as much as you can manage energy-wise, make sure to add some proteins, like a sunny-side up egg, crumbled fresh chèvre or blue cheese.
Legumes are another great source of protein and fiber. Having some cooked beans, chickpeas or lentils ready for use makes it easy to create a combination with vegetables, like any of the brassica in season and/or winter squash (“Cooking While Traveling,” Oct. 21, 2021)
Here’s a suggestion on pairing beans and winter squash, my interpretation of a recipe from Italy. The first version I read used black-eyed peas and I paired the popular legume with some Musquée de Provence squash. I then read other recipes that referenced white beans and tried several other types, not all of them white, including locally grown canario beans from Earthly Edibles and Hutterite beans from Rain Frog Farm and navy beans. I also tried white tepary beans (a traditional bean I brought back from Arizona, grown for centuries by the O’odham people in the Sonoran Desert) and a pale yellow Italian variety called zolfino. Of course, you can (and should) experiment further.
The fresh ginger, a perfect complement to winter squash, is my addition. In terms of squash, besides the Musquée de Provence, I have used locally grown Speckled Hound and honeynut squash, a relatively new variety of winter squash (“Add Another Squash to the Table,” Dec. 22, 2023).
Each type of bean and winter squash combination creates a slightly different dish. Plan for leftovers by doubling the recipe — when your energy is low, your appreciation of leftovers will be high. And remember: Never, ever skip nourishing yourself.
Winter Squash and Beans
Canario, Hutterite, navy beans and black-eyed peas are all good choices for this recipe. For a vegan version, substitute the butter with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Serves 2-3 as a side dish.
For the beans:
½ cup dried beans (see above)
2 cups water
½ small onion, halved
1 small bay leaf
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
A couple of parsley stems
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
For the squash:
1 pound winter squash (such as Speckled Hound, honeynut, Musquée de Provence), clean weight
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or extra-virgin olive oil)
4 ounces red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
Half of the cooked beans (see below)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
Rinse the beans then place them in a small saucepan with the water, the onion, bay leaf, garlic, parsley and sea salt. Cover and bring to a lively boil for 4-5 minutes. Turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are tender. (Their size and dryness will affect the time needed.) Check the beans at regular intervals. If necessary, add some hot water to ensure there is enough liquid to cover the beans.
Let the beans cool in their broth, then remove the added ingredients and discard them. Keep the beans in their broth until ready to use.
Drain the beans, reserving their broth and setting aside half of each for the recipe. (Store the remainder of the beans back in the remaining broth and refrigerate for use within the next few days, or freeze for longer storage.)
Using a sturdy swivel vegetable peeler, peel the squash and remove the seeds (a grapefruit spoon works well). Depending on the type of squash (for example, with the Speckled Hound), you may need to halve it first, then deseed and peel it. If you are using a honeynut squash, it is easier to peel it first, then cut and deseed it.
Weigh out a pound of the squash and cut it into bite-sized pieces, cubes no larger than ½ inch.
In a 10-inch sauté pan, warm the olive oil and butter (if using) over medium heat. Add the onion, stir well, then reduce the heat to low. After 1 minute, add the grated ginger and stir well. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for 8 minutes, until the onion is soft, stirring often and making sure the pan does not become dry. (Add a tablespoon of the bean broth, if necessary, to keep the onion moist.)
Add the garlic to the pan and stir well. After 1 minute, turn up the heat to medium, add the cut squash and stir well. Add 2 tablespoons of the bean broth and stir well. Cover, lower the heat and cook until the squash is just tender (12-15 minutes, or as needed), stirring every now and then.
Drain the beans, leaving them in a tablespoon or so of broth (use leftover broth in a soup or stew). Add to the squash and stir well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle in the sea salt and stir. Remove the pan from heat, sprinkle the parsley over the vegetables and stir well. Serve immediately.
Simona Carini (she/her) also writes about her adventures in the kitchen on her blog pulcetta.com and shares photographs on Instagram @simonacarini. She particularly likes to create still lives with produce from the farmers market.
This article appears in ‘A Big Family’.