Kabocha Squash

This rustic dish makes a wonderful cold-weather meal when paired with a green salad. Instead of the usual white top made of potatoes, this shepherd’s pie gets a toasted orange hue from winter squash, a common ingredient in Greek and Italian cuisine. You can substitute pumpkin, red kuri squash, or kabocha squash for the butternut. Gremolata, a fresh Italian condiment of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic, adds a bright citrus note.

Pretty much everyone has a neighbor or friend (kind of a June Cleaver type) who loves to cook and also somehow manages to be a CEO and raise three Rhodes scholars while spending three hours a day (minimum) in the kitchen. This is the recipe you give that person when she says, “Oh, I’d so like to make something for you.” This is a labor of love, and while not quite as physically intensive as, say, coal mining, it takes a bit of effort. But it’s worth it, because the recipe is big enough to be made in ramekins so it can serve as six little meals, and it stores well, too.

The word Cassolita comes from the Spanish word cassola or cazuela, which refers both to a round clay pot and that which is cooked in it. A Sephardic squash dish from Tétouan, Morocco, this cassolita is scented with cinnamon and caramelized onions and gets a nice crunch from the almonds. It is typically served with lamb couscous (see page 236), although it goes well with any hearty meat dish. When I made it for a dinner party for my editor, Judith Jones, all the high-powered foodies attending asked me for the recipe. It can be made ahead and then reheated before serving.

This is a surprising and appealing melding of squash, coriander, and harissa that I tasted with couscous when I was recently in Paris. It is also served on Rosh Hashanah.

Homemade ginger juice lends complex flavor to this squash purée.

Homemade Panang Curry Paste is the spicy backbone of this velvety vegetarian curry from southern Thailand. Serve it with bowls of jasmine rice for a hearty lunch or dinner.

Omnivores can sprinkle the risotto with shaved Parmesan cheese and crispy pancetta for a salty, crunchy, meaty finish.

All sorts of neglected or leftover vegetable bits can be transformed into these lovely, lacy-crisp, colorful tempura pancakes.

Use this flavor-enhancing salt on any meat or fish, or even on cheese.

Use any seasonal squash you like in this comforting and creamy soup.

These little cakes from Will Goldfarb have lots of fall flavor thanks to kabocha, a round Japanese winter squash. Make the cream a day ahead.

The mildly bitter flavor of yu choy plays nicely against the sweet curry sauce and kabocha squash. Chinese broccoli or broccoli rabe (rapini) can be used instead. Serve with white rice.

Calabazas are commonly found at Latino markets already cut into large wedges; kabochas are generally sold at natural foods stores.

The chile-tamarind sauce is a refined, complex variation on classic satay sauce, which is traditionally thickened with peanuts. This rendition owes its silky texture to mashed kabocha squash. At Arun's, this is served both as an appetizer and as a main course.

In this luscious soup, the restaurant uses a squash that is relatively new to the American market: the kabocha, a beautiful jade-green winter squash with deep orange flesh. Chipotle chilies canned in a spicy tomato sauce, sometimes called adobo, are available at Latin American markets, specialty foods stores, and some supermarkets.

Pumpkins may be all the rage just now, but we've noticed another squash that's garnering a lot of attention lately. The inconspicuous kabocha squash—too bumpy, squat, and unseasonably green to be taken seriously as porch décor—is finally being hailed for its inner beauty. With deeply flavored meat more fiery orange than that of its famous cousin, the kabocha caught the attention of several readers, all of whom wrote to request recipes from various restaurants for kabocha soup. Such an incipient following may portend great things. Is there a Great Kabocha? Not yet, Charlie Brown, but here's a great kabocha soup. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr