Stephanie Hofmann
Thomas Stauffer of Vitruvian Farms, an organic permaculture CSA farm outside of McFarland, says that Thanksgiving day is a special one for spending time with family — because it’s one of the first periods since early spring that they’re not super busy on the farm.
Stauffer heads to visit family in Minneapolis for Thanksgiving; farm co-founder Shawn Kuhn heads to Slinger, Wisconsin. “We try really hard to bring what we can from the farm to give our family a sense of our farm experience,” Stauffer says. “It adds a personal touch to dinner to know you’ve grown the food you are eating.”
This year, Stauffer will be making a recipe of his own creation, made with squash, tomatoes, shallots and peppers all grown at Vitruvian.
Roasted acorn squash with green tomato, shallot and Cheyenne pepper
Makes 2 servings. Easy to multiply recipe.
- 1 acorn squash
- half of a green (unripe) heirloom tomato
- 1 small shallot
- 1/4 to 1/2 Cheyenne pepper, de-seeded
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Cut acorn squash in half, from stem to bottom. Remove seeds; discard. Cover in olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add any other spices you would like. (I also like to add a small amount of a sweeter curry powder, one with saffron in it.)
Cut green tomato into medium chunks. Dice the shallot. Slice the Cheyenne pepper in half. On the baking sheet, in two separate piles, combine half of the green tomato, shallots and pepper. Make the pile the size of the inside of the squash, as it will go over the top.
Add salt and olive oil to ingredients. Put a half of the squash face-down over each pile. Put in oven and bake for roughly 45 minutes. Check flesh of the squash for doneness. It should be soft, roughly the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Once ready, remove flesh from skin of squash. Remove the Cheyenne pepper altogether; then lightly stir the other ingredients together with the roasted squash.
Juan Gonzalez, the farmer behind the Los Jalapenos CSA, spoke to us about how his family celebrates El Dia de Gracias through the translation of Joe Muellenberg of Dane County Extension. The family “celebrates the same way everyone else does,” says Gonzalez — they meet as a large family and cook a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. Rather than make traditional gravy, though, they baste their turkey with a guajillo chile salsa and use the leftovers to make turkey enchiladas.
While growing up in Mexico, Gonzalez celebrated El Dia de la Cosecha (Harvest Festival) after the corn and wheat were harvested and “put to sleep” for the winter months. For that festival, they make dishes like tamales. While Gonzalez is a farmer, he is not a chef. (His sister, however, is chef at El Sabor de Puebla on Williamson Street, where she makes tamales; these are also sold at the Willy Street Co-op.) This recipe is not the Gonzalez family recipe; it is adapted from mexicanfoodjournal.com.
Guajillo chile salsa
- 16 guajillo chiles
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 4 cups of water
- 1/4 cup onion, roughly chopped
- 4 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- Salt
Remove the stems, seeds and veins from the chiles. Discard. Peel the cloves of garlic. Chop the cilantro. Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Add just enough water to cover the ingredients, about 4 cups. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 1 minute, then turn off the heat. Allow the ingredients to soak for 15 minutes. The dried chiles will reconstitute in this time. Pour all of the ingredients including the soaking water into the blender along with onion and brown sugar.
Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add a little water if needed. Strain the mixture back into a bowl. Discard the paste that remains in the strainer. Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in your saucepan over medium heat then add the strained salsa. Turn the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes until it thickens. The salsa will darken.
Cassie Noltnerwyss of Crossroads Community Farm in Pine Bluff usually heads away from the farm on Thanksgiving, with her husband Mike and their kids. They alternate years, sometimes spending the holiday with his extended family, sometimes hers. Cassie’s family usually makes the time-honored family favorites they’ve been making for Thanksgiving for years.
“Sometimes we’ll say, ‘Who needs what?’ And we end up being the supplier of the vegetables. On Mike’s side, sometimes we make a dish, sometimes not,” says Cassie. “But wherever we go for Thanksgiving, our car is packed full with potatoes and brussels and onions and garlic and whatever anyone has requested.”
“We enjoy supplying it,” says Cassie, “and the families get excited about it, because they’re our biggest fans. We’re like the vegetable grocery store.” When Noltnerwyss is asked to bring a dish, this is a favorite, from Nigel Slater’s Tender.
Mashed Brussels with Parmesan and Cream
Serves 4-6
- 1 pound brussels sprouts
- a little grated nutmeg
- 1 cup cream
- 1 scant cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove any aged-looking leaves from the sprouts. Cook the sprouts in rapidly boiling unsalted water for four minutes. Drain, then put them in a food processor, along with some salt and pepper.Process briefly, until just coarsely chopped, then season with a very small pinch of nutmeg.
Stir in the cream and most of the cheese.
Scoop into a baking dish and scatter with the reserved Parmesan and bake for 25 minutes or so, until golden.
