South American Squash And Vegetable Ragoût Recipes

SOUTH AMERICAN SQUASH AND VEGETABLE RAGOûT

Steps:

• 1. Place apricots and prunes in bowl, and cover with 1 cup boiling water. Soak 2 hours, or overnight. Drain, and coarsely chop fruit, reserving liquid.
• 2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Cut circular opening in squash tops, and reserve tops. Cut small slices off bottoms of squash so they stand up straight. Scoop out and discard seeds and fiber from squash. Rub outsides of squash shells and lids with oil, and place on prepared baking sheet.
• 3. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and oregano; sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and tomatoes and juice; cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add potato, sweet potato, and reserved apricot-prune soaking liquid, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are almost soft. Add corn and apricot-prune mixture, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more. Add beans, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Simmer 5 minutes more.
• 4. Ladle 1 cup stew into each hollowed squash; place lid on top. Bake 60 to 90 minutes, or until fork can easily pierce through squash.

SUMMER VEGETABLE RAGOûT

Steps:

• In a 12-inch heavy skillet sauté garlic in oil over moderately high heat, stirring just until fragrant. Add scallions, zucchini, pattypan squash, corn, and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and squash are golden in spots, about 4 minutes.
• Add broth and simmer ragout, covered, 3 minutes, or until squash is just tender. Add tomatoes and tarragon and simmer, covered, 1 minute, or until tomatoes are softened.
• Season ragout with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.

SUMMER VEGETABLE RAGOUT WITH CARROT-GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• For sauce:
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, lemongrass, and ginger; sauté until slightly softened but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add apple and curry powder; saut�� until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, then flour and stir 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually pour in carrot juice; bring to boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered until sauce is slightly thickened and reduced to generous 2 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes. Strain sauce through fine strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids in strainer. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. DO AHEAD: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Cover; chill. Rewarm before using.
• For vegetables:
• Preheat oven to 400&def;F. Place eggplant cubes in large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons oil and toss to coat; sprinkle with salt. Spread eggplant cubes in even layer on large rimmed baking sheet. Toss squash and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in same bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread squash in even layer on another large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until squash and eggplant are light golden and tender, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes for squash and 40 minutes for eggplant. Remove baking sheets with vegetables from oven and set aside. Fill large bowl with water and ice. Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until just crisp-tender, 2 to 4 minutes, depending on size of beans. Using tongs, transfer beans to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain. Maintain boiling water in same pot; add corn. Cook until corn is just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain corn. Cool slightly. Cut kernels off corn cobs; discard cobs. DO AHEAD: Vegetables can be made 4 hours ahead. Combine all vegetables on large rimmed baking sheet. Let stand at room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix garbanzo beans into vegetables; bake until heated through, about 15 minutes.
• Combine hot vegetables and hot carrot-ginger sauce in large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in arugula and basil.