Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-New Haven, Connecticut

The Location: New Haven, Connecticut

2013 population: 130,660; 33.1% African American, 32.0% white. Per capita income: $22,714

The city was founded in 1638 by Puritans. New Haven's claim to fame is being the home of Yale University. It is the basis of the city's economy, and is its biggest employer. New Haven was Connecticut's co-capital from 1701 to 1783, before power was transferred entirely to Hartford. New Haven is said to be the cultural capital of the state.

Prior to the European Invasion, New Haven was home to the Quinnipiac Native American tribe. They were corn farmers and fishers. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area, followed by the Puritans from England. Rather than being slaughtered or displaced, however, the Quinnipiac sold their land to the settlers in return for protection from a nearby rival tribe.

The Collegiate School moved from Old Saybrook to New Haven in 1718. It was renamed Yale University after Elihu Yale, a merchant in the British East India Company who made a large donation to the school.

New Haven was one of the first cities to embrace the anti-slavery movement in the 1830's. During the Civil War, New Haven sold a lot of goods to the war effort, but didn't engage in any battles of their own. After the war ended, it became home to many Italian and Jewish immigrants.

After the two world wars, New Haven became a victim of urban decay, as more residents left the city to move to the suburbs. In the last few decades, though, it has begun to be built up once again.

The Food: Connecticut Not-Beef Supper and Connecticut Apple Brownies
Connecticut was one of the most difficult states to find recipes that I was willing to try. One of their most famous recipes is clam pizza with white sauce. That was a "no" for me...So I had to keep looking, and finally, after days of searching, I came across these two recipes. They sounded simple enough, yet tasty, so I went with them. They did not disappoint.

Connecticut-Not Beef Supper:

This is actually called Connecticut Beef Supper, but as I do not eat beef, I had to change it up a bit. I think it turned out really well and my sister actually ate some and loved it. That really says something for how good it is. I will rewrite the recipe as I did it and include the link to the original in the sources section.

2 Tbsp. cooking oil of choice
2 lb. cubed pork roast
1 onion, sliced 
1 cup water 
2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced 
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream 
1 1/4 cup milk 
1 tsp. salt 
1/4 tsp. pepper 
1 cup cheese, grated 
Bread crumbs(optional)

Heat oil in large skillet. Brown meat and onions. Add water and heat until boiling. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Pour meat into 13" x 9" ungreased dish. If there is a lot of liquid left in the pan, drain it out, you don't want this in the dish. Put potato slices on top.In a large bowl, stir soup, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper together. Pour over potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours. For last half hour, sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs, if using, over the top and return to the oven.

This was really delicious and comforting on a winter night. I highly recommend this if you are looking for comfort food, but something a little different from what you usually go for. And if you have leftover liquid from simmering the meat, don't throw it away. Skim off the fat and freeze the liquid for something else. My sister and I discussed making a stew and that liquid would be perfect for it.

It's hard to go wrong with cheesy, creamy potatoes, and you throw the meat in it and you have a one bowl dinner. Those in my family are well aware of a dish called Patio Potatoes that is a staple for our Christmas Eve dinners. This dinner is much along those lines, but it's a little more dairy-friendly. I am looking forward to trying this reheated tonight for dinner!

Connecticut Apple Brownies:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

2 cups apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I used Honeycrisp)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine sugar, applesauce, butter, and eggs. In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add them to the butter mixture, and mix well. Stir in apples and nuts. Spoon into greased 9" square pan (or double recipe for 9 x 13 inch pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Mine only needed 30 minutes. I made them in the morning to take with me to a tea party and they ended up being very popular! Calling them a brownie is a bit of a misnomer, because as you can see, there is no chocolate anywhere in the recipe. But, the texture is very much like a brownie. Maybe Apple Blondie would be a better name for them. By cutting out half the sugar and replacing it with the applesauce, it is healthier, but you don't notice it. The apples are sweet and the applesauce fits right into the recipe.

Both of these recipes were fantastic! I had to work so hard to find them in the first place that I am very glad they turned out so well. You definitely need to try these out. You will not regret it!

Sources:
City Map

City Pic

City Info

City Stats

Connecticut Beef Supper Recipe

Connecticut Apple Brownies Recipe

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Conway, Arkansas

 

The Location: Conway, Arkansas

2013 population: 63,816; 75.3% white, 15.6% African American. 2013 per capita income: $24,465.

Conway was established as a railway town after the Civil War ended, by Asa P. Robinson. In 1878, a priest named Father Joseph Straub, who had founded the Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, moved to Conway. He built the St. Joseph Colony there. Both the railroad and Father Straub worked diligently to attract German and Catholic German families to the area. By 1889, more than 100 German families called Conway home.

Conway's proximity to the Arkansas River makes it a popular fishing destination.

Claim to fame: Conway is said to be the city that singer Conway Twitty took his name from.

The Food: Catfish, Collard Greens, and Cornmeal-fried Veggies
So, when I was thinking about what to do for the state of Arkansas, catfish immediately came to mind. I knew it was risky, though, because this is Seattle, and catfish is not native to this region. Nor is it particularly in high demand, which means the chance of me finding fresh catfish when I needed to, was very low. But I was determined to make it work. I lucked out, though. Last week my grocery store had one portion of catfish in the fresh fish section on discount. Not sure why it was discounted, because it was well within its use-by date. Probably because of demand, I would assume. Well, I snatch it right up and looked very carefully at the label. It did not say it had been previously frozen, so I made a risky decision and froze it. I normally would never do this to fish, but you can't keep fish in your fridge for a week before you use it, so it was either freeze it or not use it all.

I wanted a simple catfish recipe because I've never had it before and I wanted it to shine as a flavor and didn't want whatever I put on it to outshine or mask it. I found a very delicious and simple recipe that was also very easy to make. I was happy because it was steeped in Southern ingredients and just screamed "The South". Here is the recipe:

Pecan Catfish
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/4 pounds catfish
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup pecans, finely crushed
5 wedges lemon, for garnish
5 sprigs fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, salt and pepper. Dip the catfish in the cornmeal mixture; coating well.
Place catfish on a flat, greased baking sheet. Pour the oil over the fish.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until catfish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Sprinkle with pecans toward the end of the cooking period.
Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley sprigs.


The only thing I didn't do was the lemon wedges and parsley sprigs. I just squeezed lemon juice over it all when it came out of the oven. I did it exactly as it was called for, except I put mine on parchment paper on the sheetpan instead of greasing a sheetpan. That worked just fine. I put the pecans on probably for the last 4 minutes. They will burn in an oven that hot, so don't add them too soon.

This one was really good! The sweetness of the pecan and the tartness of the lemon complimented the fish, but didn't overpower it. And that turned out to be a good thing, because catfish is a really delicate fish. It's a white fish, that just tastes really like the ocean, which is odd because it's a fresh water fish, but it does! It's like fish, but not fishy, if that makes any sort of sense. I highly recommend this one if you can ever get your hands on catfish.

And for my vegetable side, I knew I had to go with collard greens. This again was a risk because it's Seattle in January. Well, it turns out that collard greens are a cold weather vegetable, so I actually timed it perfectly. And it also turns out that my Safeway sells organic collard greens, so it wasn't too much of a challenge at all!

Most people prepare collard greens with ham flavoring the liquid. I am one of those unusual people who doesn't actually like ham-flavored things. I like ham, I like beans, and greens, and pea soup, but not together. So, that meant a vegetarian version. Luckily I ran across a great recipe that seemed easy enough.

Vegetarian Collard Greens 
2 lbs collard greens 
4 -5 garlic cloves, minced 
1 large onion, chopped 
3 cups vegetable stock 
1 teaspoon salt ( to taste) 
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika 
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 
hot sauce (optional) or red pepper flakes (optional)

Wash greens well, submerging in a sink full of cold water to remove any dirt and grit. Drain well. Cut off the stems right where the leaf starts. Stack about 5-8 leaves on top of eachother, then roll lengthwise. Cut rolled up leaves into 1" slices widthwise. Repeat until all the greens are done, and add to a large pot. 

Add all other ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes or until greens are extremely tender. Serve hot, using a slotted spoon to drain the liquid from the greens.

 

So, this started off just fine, and I had it on the back burner doing its thing while I worked on everything else. I thought that it would be fine, because the greens would release their liquid and it would basically stew until I was ready to serve it. That's not how it ended up, unfortunately. I did not take an "after" picture, because I burned the heck out of it and it was ruined! I did try a not-burned bit just to see if it was salvageable. It was very bitter. I'm not sure if that's because collard greens are bitter or because it sat and burned for a half hour, but either way, it was not edible. I was sad, because it was a solid recipe! But, lesson learned, collard greens don't actually give off that much liquid, so make sure to add lots to the pot and check it once in a while!

 

To round out the meal, I wanted a starch and an interesting way of preparing it. I found a recipe that seemed pretty simple and went with it. 

 

Arkansas Fried Veggies

1 cup milk  

1 egg

1 cup cornmeal, or as needed

2 squash, sliced

2 red potatoes, cubed

2 green tomatoes, cubed

3 pods fresh okra, sliced into rings, or more to taste

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

2 tablespoons bacon grease, or as needed

Salt/pepper to taste

Whisk milk and egg together in a large bowl. Pour cornmeal into another large bowl.

Dip squash, potatoes, tomatoes, okra, onion, and green bell pepper into milk mixture; press vegetables into cornmeal to coat.

Heat bacon grease in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir vegetable mixture in hot grease until golden and tender, 15 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

 

I used this recipe as a base but didn't do all the vegetables listed. I used what I had on hand, which last night happened to be fingerling potatoes that I cut into quarters, green beans, and sliced frozen okra that I thawed out. I cooked the potatoes first because they need a lot more time than the other vegetables. As golden as they got on the outside, they were still not cooked through, so I threw them on a sheetpan and put them in the oven while the catfish baked. That seemed to be enough extra time to cook them through. I fried the other veggies while the potatoes baked. 

This recipe was ok, but not amazing. The problem is that when you fry cornmeal, it gets rock hard, so you're eating these crunchy nuggets with little bits of cornmeal getting stuck in your teeth. I bet it would be better if you ground up the cornmeal into smaller pieces. That might have worked better.

There was a lot of cornmeal in this meal, but cornmeal, catfish, pecans, collard greens, okra, and bacon fat is pretty much the epitome of Southern food, so it's fitting for this menu!

This meal might not have turned out perfectly, but it was a lot of fun to make. The catfish was delicious, and I do think the collard greens would have been really good if I hadn't burned them to smithereens...The veggies were ok, but the catfish was the star. Definitely try it out sometime if you can get your hands on some. It's worth it!

Sources:

City Maps

 

City Pic

City Stats

City History

Arkansas Fried Veggie Recipe

Catfish Recipe

Collard Greens Recipe

 

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Elizabeth Town, North Carolina

 

The Location: Elizabeth Town, North Carolina

2013 population: 18,266. 55.9% African American, 37.0% white. Per capita income: $18,024.

Nicknamed, the "Harbor of Hospitality," the city was founded in 1794. It was originally a mercantile hub, but segued into a commercial and industrial center. It was originally named Redding, but since there was another town nearby with the same name, it was renamed in 1801. Two different theories exist about the name: Either it was named after Queen Elizabeth I, who had funded the colonization of the Virginia and Carolina coasts 200 years previously, or it was named after Elizabeth Tooley, a local tavern owner who donated a lot of her own land to the city.

Elizabeth Town is positioned on the Pasquotenk River, and the nearby Dismal Swamp Canal would help improve the town's financial success. In 1827, the custom house, or the government building where trade paperwork was filled out and filed, for all of Camden County, was moved to Elizabeth Town. This increased business and tolls being paid to the city.

The Confederacy had a fleet stationed in the city during the Civil War. After a brief battle in the city on February 10, 1862, the city was taken over by the Union. Guerilla warriors for the Confederacy would continue to attack Union forces, though unsuccessfully, for the remainder of the war.

After the Civil War, the railroad would alter Elizabeth Town's importance as an industrial center. With transportation moving to the railroad, it left the city less relevant than it had been, but it would be revived during the Second World War. It was made into a center for textiles, aeronautics, and shipbuilding. It would also bring commerce back to the area, due to the increase in population. Today, the city still has a strong economy, with government and agriculture-based industries.

The Food: Vinegar and Mustard BBQ Sauce and Pimento Cheese
The South has a wide variety of dishes to choose from. I have tried to spread them out over the course of this project, and not overdo certain best-known items. Barbeque is one of them. I have done one other state: Texas, and knew I was going to do this one, since the sauces are so vastly different, but I did not want to overdue it. So, two states out of fifty got barbeque, and I think that's fair, even though it's known all over the country.

This ended up being an interesting meal. The items I thought I would like, I ended up not liking, and the item I thought I wasn't going to like, ended up being really delicious! North Carolina has two very unique barbeque sauce traditions that I had never tried before. Vinegar-based sauce and mustard-based sauce are dueling sauces that, depending on where you're from in the state, you are very passionate about. I decided that since they were both simple sauces, I would try them both. I purchased a pork roast and roasted it very simply in the oven with salt and pepper. This way I had a neutral base for each sauce.

The vinegar sauce was basically what it sounds like: cider and white vinegar with Tabasco, sugar, and chili pepper flakes. I made it a couple hours before using it, so I thought it would marinate and become very flavorful. Unfortunately, it basically just tasted like vinegar. Maybe I should have heated it up to help the flavors blend better, but I feel like I shouldn't have had to. Pork with vinegar doesn't taste very good, so this wasn't a win, in my opinion. I will share the link to the recipe in the sources section for anybody interested in trying it out, but I'm not going to type out the recipe here.

The other sauce was a yellow mustard-based sauce. My taste for mustard has begun to expand over the years, so I thought I might be ready for this one. It turns out, I am not. This one just tasted like mustard and vinegar and I did not end up eating it either. It also ended up being a sort of unappealing brown color too, so that didn't help. Again, I'll provide the link, but I'm not going to write out the recipe. It turns out, I'm definitely a traditional tomato sauce-based bbq sauce person. It's what I grew up eating, it's what my palate is used to. It's just what I think is the tastiest. But at least I know now what the other kinds taste like. Barbeque fans are very passionate and particular about what they like and don't like in a sauce.

And now, for the recipe that I was assuming I would detest, and did because it is such a Southern staple: Pimento Cheese. Anything with the word pimento in it is generally something I try to avoid. If you are unaware of what pimento is, think of the red bits inside a green olive. It is a roasted red bell pepper that usually comes in a jar. I cannot stand the taste. So, when I decided to try it out anyway, the first thing I chose to do was to roast my own red bell pepper. I have no idea what a jar of the already roasted stuff costs, but I imagine it's probably more than the cost of buying your own bell pepper and throwing it in the oven. It is the easiest thing in the world to roast a bell pepper and I cannot recommend that over the jarred stuff highly enough. If you have never roasted a bell pepper before, here's the process: Wash the bell pepper and place it on an ungreased sheet pan. Put that into a 400 degree oven. It will start to blacken on the outside and sometimes it will pop and make noises, but don't be worried, it's just releasing the air from the inside of the pepper. Occasionally, turn the bell pepper so that the underside gets a chance to blacken. After about a half hour, remove it from the oven, place it in a mixing bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap to allow the heat to steam the skin off the pepper. When it's cooled down enough, remove it carefully from the mixing bowl(it will generate a lot of juice from the pepper. You can decide if you want or need to use this for whatever you are using it for. I drained mine off except for a very small amount.) onto a cutting board and pull out the stem and peel off the skin. This will allow you to start ripping apart the sides and carefully unfolding it. You will want to remove all the seeds. From there you do whatever you need to with it. Cut it into thin strips, or what I did was dice it very small. One average bell pepper will yield a little over 1/4 cup of roasted, minced pepper.

Fancy Pimento Cheese

20 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup minced fresh chives
1/2 cup minced roasted red pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)
1 pinch ground black pepper

Using the smallest holes of a box grater, grate half the Cheddar cheese. Grate the remaining Cheddar cheese on the next larger size holes.
Stir together the Cheddar cheese, chives, roasted red pepper, cream cheese, pickle juice, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, and black pepper in a bowl until evenly combined.

I have seen pictures of other pimento cheese recipes over the years, and the ingredients are all blended together. The cheese must be heated up or something, but this wasn't like that. It does feel a little odd to scoop up and spread wet cheese shreds onto a piece of bread and eating it, but it was worth working through the weirdness! One ingredient stood out to me as very unique: the pickle juice. What a brilliant idea for flavoring food! And it turns out it was great in this recipe. I served this spread out on slices of French bread and it was really good! I made a half recipe, as you see above, the recipe is enormous! A half recipe still filled that entire container and I will be sharing it with my coworkers tomorrow.

So, my dinner didn't turn out as I had planned, but that's ok. That's what is fun about this blog project. Not everything is going to turn out how you want it to. Some things will taste amazing and some will taste awful. You never quite know what you will get. And just because you didn't like something, doesn't mean something went wrong in the cooking process. Sometimes it just means you don't care for the flavor, or your palate is not adjusted for it yet. If only I knew somebody from North Carolina who would have tried the recipes and let me know if I did them right or not!! Oh well, it was still a fun experiment!

Sources:
Pimento Cheese Recipe

Vinegar-based BBQ Sauce

Mustard-based BBQ Sauce

City Map

City Pic

City Stats

City History

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Laramie, Wyoming

 The Location: Laramie, Wyoming

 

2013 population: 31,814; 83.6% white, 8.7% Hispanic. Per capita income: $22,441.

Prior to being colonized by the United States, the region around Laramie was home to the Sioux/Lakota tribe. The town of Laramie was first founded in the 1860's, and was built as a tent city next to the railroad line. The city was initially part of what we call the "Wild West" and subjected to a lot of the lawlessness that went along with it before being stabilized and "civilized".

Laramie, or perhaps all of the state of Wyoming, comes across as full of contradictions. Wyoming, as a territory, was organized in 1869. Women were granted equal rights by the legislature. Laramie was the first city in the United States to have women serve on a jury, in 1870. It was also home to the first woman to cast a ballot in an election, on September 6, 1870. It's the first city to ban smoking in public places. However, it is also home to the University of Wyoming, where the Matthew Shepard murder took place. For a place that from its inception was a beacon of what we would today define as liberality, it also has some shockingly conservative attitudes as well.

Supernatural Factoid: Actor Jim Beaver hails from Laramie.

The Food: Turkey Jerky and Three Sisters Stew

Wyoming's food seems to be as contradictory as its history and values. The two themes I came across most while researching food for this state were: Cowboy food and Native American food. So, I decided to run with it and find a recipe that represented each of those halves. Beef and buffalo are big in Wyoming, but they are not big with me, and I've always wanted to make jerky, but that meant finding a different protein source. Enter, the turkey. I modified two recipes I found online and combined them into my own recipe. I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt!

Turkey Jerky
1 Tbsp. liquid smoke (Tip: If you are having trouble looking for this at the grocery store, check out the bbq sauce aisle. It's a good bet you'll find it there.)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce, or to taste
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 tsp. mesquite flavoring liquid (I could not find this in the store and dumped in some chili powder instead. I think it turned out pretty good this way!)
2 tsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. turkey breast, sliced thin (I used the cutlets that come pre-cut, the Jenny-O brand. I cut them in half but they were the perfect thinness to begin with.)

Combine the liquid smoke through the salt in a gallon-size ziplock bag. Mix well.
Add the turkey slices, and cover all the turkey slices in the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator 12-24 hours.
When ready to prepare the jerky the next day, pour the turkey slices and the marinade into a pot, and simmer until the liquid reaches 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. (I didn't actually test the temperature, I just made sure it looked cooked on both sides.)

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. (Note, my oven's lowest setting is 170 degrees. If yours is this higher temperature too, you may want to put the turkey in for less time. Try 2.5 hours and then test for moisture as described below.)
Drain the turkey slices from the marinade. Pat the turkey slices dry with paper towels. Lay the slices of turkey directly across your oven racks. (Place foil or a sheet pan under it to catch any of the slices that may slip off.)
Prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon to allow moisture to escape.

Continue to cook the turkey this way for 3-6 hours.
After 3 hours, test a piece by allowing it to cool,and then bending it. If there is any moisture present, continue to dry longer, checking every so often.
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 months in the refrigerator, or up to 6 months in the freezer.

 My jerky tasted awesome! A bit spicy, but I liked that. It was a bit crunchy in some bites, which means it dried out too much, as I said in the notes, this was probably because the temperature was just a bit higher than it was supposed to be. Probably a half hour less would have been perfect. It was way easier to make than I ever expected it to be. If you have been curious to try making jerky but are worried that it might be too complicated, don't be! Try it out! It's a fun project.

Three-Sisters Stew
I came across this name a few times in my researching and decided to use a vegan version of the recipe. According to Native American lore, there were three sisters: Corn sister, bean sister, and squash sister. Those three sisters provided all the nourishment the people needed, and because of this, they were planted together. The corn grew tall and the stalks allowed the beans to grow up without needing stakes. And the squash grew at the corn and bean's feet, making for easy harvesting. And science has proved the truth of this lore, because these three food items eaten together form what is known as a complete protein. Animal proteins are complete proteins because they contain every type of amino acid in them, but vegetarian protein sources are incomplete. Corn, beans, and squash, combined together, contain all the amino acids, which make it a complete protein source, and a boon for vegetarians and vegans. There are versions of these stew with meat in them, but I felt it wasn't needed. The three sisters are the star of this dish, and they deserved to stand out on their own, especially since I was making turkey jerky as well. I didn't need more meat than that!

1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into short narrow strips

1 (14- to 16-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with liquid

2 cans (drained and rinsed) pink or pinto beans

2 cans corn kernels, drained

1 cup homemade or canned vegetable stock, or water (I used water)

1 (4 oz.) can chopped mild green chilies, drained

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. chili powder or mesquite seasoning, or more, to taste (I used chili powder)

1 tsp. dried oregano

Dash cayenne pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place squash on a greased sheet pan and roast for about a half hour, until browned and cooked through.

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to sauté until the onion is golden. Add the squash and all the remaining ingredients except the salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. 

Simmer gently, covered, until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If time allows, let the stew stand for 1 to 2 hours before serving, then heat through as needed. The stew should be thick and very moist but not soupy; add additional stock or water if needed. Adjust seasonings to your liking. Serve in bowls.

This was really tasty! The squash is sweet and helps temper the spices in the stew. I am curious how it will taste reheated, but it was very good fresh too. It worked really well with the turkey jerky and was perfect for a snowy day like it was here today. It felt very winterish. I highly recommend this recipe!

Sources:
Turkey Jerky recipe

Turkey Jerky recipe

Three Sisters Stew recipe

City Map

City Pic

City Info

City History