A is for Angostura Bitters

What are bitters? And why is the label for a particular kind, Angostura, too big for the bottle?

Bitters are a mysterious concoction of herbs and spices used in many cocktails, a mystery far more interesting and intriguing than the Colonel's blend of seven spices. Sugar and gentian are the only two acknowledged ingredients in Angostura Bitters. The secret recipe was developed in 1824 by Dr. J G B Siegert, a Surgeon General in Simon Bolivar's Venezuelan army.

This weekend, my fiance and I went to one of our favorite bars, Maduro. Sitting at the bar--really the best place to sit in a good bar--we saw a line of different bottles of bitters, including one with blood oranges and another with peaches. Matt ordered one of their specialty cocktails that called for bitters just so we could try one of these unique bitters--all of which also had mysterious origins and ingredients. The bottles also mentioned using bitters on food. Food?

Of course, I had to try it.

Despite subscribing to every food magazine and newsletter available, I had never seen a recipe calling for bitters. Angostura's website has a whole section of recipes, including a pumpkin soup. Being inundated with squash as we are, soup seemed like the perfect choice.  So I boiled and pureed and then added a few dashes of bitters to the finished soup. To be honest, I'm not sure I could exactly taste the bitters. There was a slight herbal flavor to the soup that may have come from the bitters, but I can't be sure. I like the idea of using bitters, though. Besides, it makes everything you make much more mysterious when you include a secret ingredient.

S is for TOO MUCH SQUASH

Winter in Wisconsin does not, thankfully, mean that the fresh produce has to end. We have a CSA share through December with additional "surprise" drops in January and February usually. And thank god because I've really become far too dependent on my share to actually buy produce at the store anymore. Those few months when I do, March and April, are really quite sad and radish filled (seemingly one of the few things always local at the co-op).

Yesterday, I picked up our first winter share of the season from Primrose Community Farm. This is our third year as members and it really is quite a spectacular share. It also requires quite spectacular arm muscles to lift and carry home. Yesterdays haul involved four grocery bags stuffed to the point of breaking (I'm actually surprised we made it intact) with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, kale, lettuce (that's right! Lettuce in November!), cabbage, celeriac (when my fiance asked what it was, I told him it was an alien), sweet potatoes, and last but not least, 12 squash. 12!! This in addition to the two I still had sitting on the counter from my regular season share. This will challenge all my culinary creativity.

Two years ago, I had a falling out with winter squash.  I hadn't ever reached the end of rope with any vegetable before but the squash just got to be too much. I couldn't eat it anymore. The thought of it, the mere sight of it, made by stomach churn and I ended up tossing most of them--furtively-- into the compost bin. Not this year. I just came home with a stack of squash cookery books from the library so I can hopefully work through our countertop "patch" before the malaise sets in.