Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

(Way behind on reading other people's journals, got a my-head-will-explode-any-second headache ... dunno how much I'll be writing the rest of the day.)

Y'all remember my first attempt at cooking Spanish pumpkin, aka calabaza, a few days ago, and how it took more than twice as long as I expected it to? Today I tried it differently -- I sliced off the rind and cubed the flesh, added some coarsely chopped garlic, and sprinkled some spices and olive oil over it all. That went into the oven in a covered thingie (uh, white Corningware with a glass lid ... casserole dish???). Expecting it to take a long time, I cubed a potato and made big chunks of onion and pitted a few olives, shook those up with some spices and oil, and set them aside to add to the calabaza after an hour. Except that when I checked the calabaza at the one hour mark, it was all soft and squishy and smelling like it was done. So I pulled it out and am eating it now. (Pretty darned good -- a little sweeter this way than simply baked, needed a tiny bit of salt, would probably be even better on a bed or rice or couscous.) The chopped/spiced/oiled potato & onion will have to sit in the fridge and be cooked as part of something else.

So now the mystery is why it cooked up so very differently this time. Was it the rind? Being cubed? The olive oil? The lid? Or just the fact that it had sat in my fridge a few days longer slowly breaking down? (Notes on the web say it should keep for weeks in a cool dark place if it's whole but should be used within the week once cut. What I got seven and a half days ago was a cut chunk of one, so it was nearing the end of its expected storage life.)

Obviously further experiments are in order. And I must remember to try adding raisins the next time I chop one up.