Peanut-Butternut Squash Stew

Recipe by: EVG Uploaded by Drimble Wedge

A couple years back I stopped in at the Great Dane pub in Madison, and on whim tried their African-style butternut squash stew with peanut butter, called the Inner Warmth Peanut Stew.

It was so astonishingly delicious (especially because I never really enjoyed squash in the past) that I had to look for a recipe online to try a similar dish at home.

To my surprise and glee, the actual recipe had been shared by the chef of the restaurant! And that's what I'm sharing with you today.

http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/29241964.html

The Great Dane Inner Warmth Peanut Stew

Start by gathering your ingredients:

• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• ½ cup minced garlic
• ½ cup minced ginger
• ½ tablespoon black pepper
• 2 to 3 pounds winter squash (butternut or acorn), peeled, cubed
• 1 quart tomato juice
• 1 can (20 ounces) diced tomatoes
• ½ tablespoon salt
• 1 medium bunch cilantro, stems removed, chopped
• 1 cup plain peanut butter
• cooked white rice

Not pictured is the rice - it calls for white in the recipe, but I've found that it's REALLY good with brown rice. The toothsomeness really lends something to the dish.

Here I used the mini-chopper for my immersion blender to do the work of mincing the garlic and ginger after peeling/husking it all. There's a lot of it.

Then, chop up the onion. This I used a knife for because I didn't want it to be pulverized.

Peel, core, and chop your squash.

In large sauté pan, heat olive oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger, pepper and squash.

I added a generous sprinkle of red pepper flakes - not in the recipe but gave it a nice little kick.

Cook until ingredients start to soften, about 10 minutes.

Add tomato juice, tomatoes and salt.

Simmer until squash is tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 5 minutes.

Now you'll want to chop up the cilantro, because if it sits around chopped it starts getting gross and wilty.

Add cilantro, then peanut butter and mix well.

Bloop.

Mix in, and your stew should now be a gorgeous orangey color.

Take the scraper covered in peanut butter, and use it to entice your dog to do tricks.

Good boy!

Simmer the stew until thickened, about 10 minutes. It should be the consistency of a thick stew.

At this point I use the immersion blender to give it a nice, smooth consistency.

Meanwhile you should have been making some rice in your rice cooker (or in a pot, I guess, if you hate delicious, perfectly cooked rice). Fluff that up and leave on warm if it's finished early.

For each serving, put a small portion of rice in a large soup bowl, then add stew.

The recipe claims that it makes 4 main dish servings, however this is a lie. It makes a HUGE, restaurant-sized vat of stew and easily a week's worth of dinners (and a couple lunches as well!)

Enjoy for many nights to come!