Here is another Staff Favourite recipe from April’s issue of Food & Wine
We will probably feature a lot of vegetarian recipes on Recession Recip.es because usually a meat or fish protein is the most expensive part of a dish, and going vegetarian is definitely one way to cut down on costs. Also Carlo and I have been trying to cut down on our meat intake as a way to be a bit more healthy. This stew is tasty and hearty enough to even satisfy a meat lover.
This recipe made 4 servings at $2.14 per serving.
Normally when I need butternut squash in a recipe, I buy a package of precut squash. However in an effort to save money, I decided to buy a whole butternut squash and peel and cut it up myself. The peeling and cutting up was much easier to do than I had expected, but I don’t think that I really ended up saving that much money by not buying the packaged squash. The only plus was the texture because I felt the cut whole squash became much more silky in texture while the stew cooked.
Frying up the vegetables that form the base of the stew–kind of reminds me of fajitas.
Since corn is yet in season and fresh corn was quite pricey, I ended up using frozen corn instead to save some money. I just took the corn out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few minutes before putting it in the pan. Throughout the cooking process, the frozen corn kept its texture and didn’t get mushy so I think it was a good substitute. I would however like to make this stew again during corn season because I think the sweetness of fresh corn would add a little extra something to the dish.
I think you could either take or leave the hot paprika oil on the dish. While it added a nice finishing touch, I’m not quite sold on whether the dish really needed it or not, so feel free to leave it out if you can’t be bothered to make the oil or want to cut back on calories from the extra oil. I think you could get that nice smoked taste instead by perhaps adding a bit more hot paprika during the cooking process when you add the other spices.
