"You're a senior, double major, you've got such big ideas..."

ho man, my hungarian ancestors would be so proud of me tonight.

I got some NC patty-pan squashies at work today. it's completely and utterly the wrong season for them, but hey, they were free and organic. I like both of those things.

I had grabbed an NC red bell pepper intending to cook them squashies my favorite way: a horribly untraditional goulash. it's usually got gypsy peppers (yeah, I'm part gyspy, what now!), sweet onions, soft squash, tomatoes, and TONS of paprika. it's pretty much one of my favorite ways to use summer squash - paprika is one of those magic spices, like cumin. you can't go wrong.

with that in mind, I sauteed my onions to a nice brown, mixed in my garlic and spices, and was well on my way to having perfectly cooked squash and peppers. however, being the lazy-ass cook that I am, I didn't check to see if I had any cans of tomatoes to simmer the other ingredients in into saucy oblivion. I like having canned tomatoes on hand in winter over real tomatoes, because at least I know the canned stuff is picked when it's ripe. you never know with the fresh ones in winter...

all this is fine and dandy, but there were no tomatoes to be found. drat. I improvised. here's the results - I served it with shredded cucumber mixed with "mediterranean" (which is different from "greek", I've learned) yogurt and cumin and salt and pepper. super yum.

fava bean goulash great-grandma hates me for

1/4 of medium yellow onion, sliced
*1 clove of garlic, chopped
generous pinch each: *paprika, *oregano, *thyme, *cayenne, *black pepper
*2 patty-pan or other summer squash, roughly chopped
*1/2 of large red bell pepper, sliced thick
*1/2 can of fava beans + some of their liquid
*more paprika
pinch of chile molido - totally not traditional, but I love it with beans


saute the onion on medium 'til it begins to get brown, then mix in garlic and first set of spices. stir until it's aromatic, then add squash and peppers. saute for another 10 minutes (or as long as it takes to change your laundry), then add the fava beans and their liquid. sprinkle in more paprika (I'm a fiend) and the chile molido, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

makes enough for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow




*dude, everything I starred was free. so was my cucumber. the yogurt wasn't, but the blueberries and blackberries that'll be on my fro-yo after dinner will be!