Chocolate and Red Chili Quinoa

by Kitchen Shaman | Sep 23, 2015 | Entree, Recipes

Chocolate and chilies, as we’ve discovered, go together. I’ve played with this dessert aspect in a chili chocolate mousse and there are several chocolate bars on the market that celebrate the marriage of these two foods, but what about the savory realm? There isn’t much documentation that states the Aztecs combined chocolate in their main dishes. Chocolate was a drink not an ingredient to be added to food.

I decided to experiment with the combination in the savory realm. I took quinoa (from South America) and added chilies and chocolate (from Central America and Mexico). The heat of the chilies plays off the chocolate and binds into the quinoa bringing a bite of contrast to your mouth.

Base Squash Soup Recipe

by Kitchen Shaman | Dec 15, 2010 | Recipes, Soups & Stocks

We've been discussing squash all month, and as a final tribute, here's a basic squash soup recipe that can be applied to several winter varieties of squash, including pumpkin, acorn, butternut, and kabocha squash. Winter squash are comforting when the temperatures drop and its cold outside. Enjoy this soup by the fire with relaxing music. Read on for the recipe.

Cooking Squash, it’s a hard life

by Kitchen Shaman | Nov 29, 2010 | Ingredients, Produce

Winter is the time for hard squash, and they are all fun to cook. Whether it's spaghetti squash, butternut squash, or acorn squash, there are lots of surprisingly delicious ways to prepare them.

Winter or Summer? Choose Your Squash

by Kitchen Shaman | Nov 22, 2010 | Ingredients, Produce

Have you ever faced the produce section in the grocery store and wondered about all that squash? The different varieties, how to cook them, what they even are? And what about that pumpkin you carved a few weeks ago for Halloween? Was that actually edible?

The cooking method remains the same. Bust them open-- carefully! -- with a very sharp knife. Clean out all the seeds, chunk them up and then roast or bake them in an oven. You can then transform the squash into soups, purees, pies, and other delicious dishes for meals.

Tag: acorn squash