Fall is here! The leaves are changing and life is rocketing at high speed toward thanksgoving and Christmas. Somehow I find myself busier in the fall than I am all summer long. The kids are in school and doing extra-curricular stuff almost every weekday and that results in mom's taxi service working overtime. Who has time for fancy time consuming dinners? Not this chick. Enter the crock pot superhero!! Today, I've filled it with a delicious, highly nutritious Asian squash and a couple of pounds of ground up venison.
Ingredients:
1/4 C Mirin
2 T kaffir lime leaves
1 T brown sugar
1 t ground ginger
1/4 t cayenne
2 lb ground venison or stew meat, browned
7 lb peeled, cubed, kabocha squash
1 small onion, sliced extra thin
Directions:
Mix all of the liquids and spices into the bottom of the crock pot and taste to make sure the spice level is where you want it.
Place ground venison in crock pot and cover with Kabocha then onion.
Cook on high 4 hours or low 8 hours and serve over rice
Over cooking will result in your squash becoming extra tender or mushy. I personally prefer mine mushy but you may enjoy food with actual texture.
So what exactly is Kabocha, you ask? The best answer I have for the flavor is something like a cross between an acron squash and a pumpkin with a texture like butternut squash. All of them have that same orangey flesh I so adore.
Kabocha has a beautiful dark green skin around orange flesh with seeds like a pumpkin. This particular kabocha was enormous so I chose to peel the skin but on a smaller squash the skin is smooth, thinner, and edible if you don't mind a little extra fiber with your nutrients.
This is how my crock pot looks right before I stick a lid on it and walk away. If you don't have an enormous family like I do, or if you'd rather not have a lot left over to freeze, dialing back the amount of squash is totally an option. My family just loves this stuff though so we may not even have any left to freeze.
Happy Cooking!!
