Seasonal Recipe Box: Fall

Locro: Harvest Stew with Sofrito topping

(Annmarie Colbin's Locro, the way I make it...)

Ingredients:

• wheat berries, barley, and white beans (just a quarter cup or so of each, maybe less), soaked at least overnight
• butternut squash (1 small or so), peeled & cubed
• sweet potato, cubed
• regular potatoes (a handful of small or 1 large), cubed
• a carrot or two, sliced
• a few ears of corn, shucked and cut through the cob into rings
• a bay leaf or two

Procedure:

Bring the grains and beans to a boil in some water in a large pot with a bay leaf, and cook til tender.

Add the butternut squash, sweet potato, potato, and carrot, cover and simmer til the vegetables get soft and begin to dissolve. Add salt to taste. Add the corn wheels and cook a few minutes more.

Serve with sofrito topping (below) and minced scallions.

Sofrito topping

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes (red), diced small (a couple)
• Red peppers, diced small (a few)
• olive oil
• paprika
• salt

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a skillet, add peppers and begin to sauté. Then add tomatoes and continue to sauté. Add a generous amount of paprika (a few large pinches? a teaspoon maybe?) and a pinch of salt. Continue to simmer over low heat until the pan gets sort of dry.

Taste the topping -- it should be delicious.

Serve the locro in shallow pasta bowls; put a generous dollop of the sofrito on the locro and sprinkle sliced scallions on top.

Pick the corn wheels out of the stew as you go and eat the kernels, leaving the cob pieces at the side of the bowl.