Chickpea and Butternut Squash Stew

One of the things I like best about food blogging is that it encourages me to try new things. I’ve always loved to cook, but I may not have always been the most adventuresome cook recipe-wise. I tended to find something that worked and then make it over and over and over again until Noel was ready to shout “enough I’m done!”*

But now, I find I’m always looking for a new recipe to try, and to share with you all. But sometimes, I remember something that I used to love and I remember the taste, and I just have to make it again. And that’s the story with this stew.

For a while there, we ate this A LOT. But this year, not so much. Last week though, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. And so I picked up butternut squash at the store, and pulled a can of chickpeas out of the pantry. But then Noel surprised me by picking up saffron threads at the store, an ingredient we had never seen fit to splurge on for all of the previous incarnations of this recipe. They did kick it up just a bit. Everything old is new again!

Chickpea and Butternut Squash Stew
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Although I love Deb and the Smitten Kitchen, there were some things in this recipe that I did not love. Particularly the olives. I really HATE olives. Always have, always will. Still have memories of picking them off of things in my youth, when we would have big old fancy family dinner at Pizza Hut. Yeah, the town I’m from used to be so small that Pizza Hut was considered fine dining. But now they’ve gone all upscale and have a Bob Evans and sushi and stuff. But I diverge. I also have never used the preserved lemons the recipe calls for, mostly because I’ve never tracked them down. If you’re interested in these things, hop on over to SK and check them out!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound butternut squash, large dice
• 3/4 pound red potatoes, large dice
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups (1 can) cooked chickpeas, drained
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices
• Pinch saffron threads (optional–but they are very tasty!)
• Steamed couscous, for serving (directions here and elsewhere on the web)

Directions:

Heat butter and olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add squash and potatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron, if using. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10 minutes. It won’t seem like everything can cook this fast, but the steam produced with the lid on does wonders to cook the potatoes and squash–so no peaking!

Serve over couscous. Add a bit of hot sauce if you’re feeling adventuresome!

*for anyone else who has Disney show tunes in their head–I do not sing Noel off to sleep as he digests after he shouts “enough I’m done!”

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