To help us celebrate the unique winter flavors found in our bioregion—from leafy greens to winter squash to the secretly wonderful sunchoke—we asked dear friend and world-class chef Michael Campbell for a farm-inspired recipe.
Michael has created exquisite meals in renowned kitchens from New York City to Southern France and beyond, so we’re very fortunate that he now lives right here in Orange County, where he cooks delicious food at his restaurant, Pacific Pearl Cafe, as well as for Pacific Pearl Catering.
Using many of the fresh winter ingredients found in our Harvest Box, Michael created a mouthwatering winter squash and sunchoke stew, as well as a romanesco, cauliflower, and sunchoke salad with pomegranate vinaigrette. Follow the recipe below to embrace the flavors of winter, and if you’d like a weekly box of the freshest seasonal ingredients, click here to subscribe to our Harvest Box.
| Salad Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 1 | head of romanesco |
| 12 | sunchokes |
| 1 | head of cauliflower |
| 1/2 | sweet onion |
| 2 | heads of lettuce |
| 4 | baby fennel bulbs |
| 1 | bunch of parsley |
| 4 tbsps | olive oil |
| Pomegranate Vinaigrette Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 1 | pomegranate, seeded |
| 3 tbsps | honey |
| 5 tbsps | white balsamic vinaigrette |
| 1 cup | olive oil |
| 1 tbsps | salt |
| 20 | pepper mill twists of black pepper |
| Winter Squash & Sunchoke Stew Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 2 | your choice of winter squash, peeled, seeded and diced |
| 18 | sunchoke, quartered |
| 1 | large sweet onion, medium dice |
| 1 | head garlic, peeled and chopped |
| 4 tbsps | olive oil |
| 2 tbsps | turmeric |
| 1 tbsp | cumin |
| 1 tbsp | Aleppo pepper |
| 1 tbsp | cinnamon |
| 1 tbsp | black pepper |
| 5 tbsps | salt |
| – | water to cover |
| 2 | kale (finely chopped or frozen and smashed) |
| 4 tbsps | honey |
| – | juice of 3 lemons |
| 2 | bunches of cilantro |
| 2 | 13.5 oz coconut milk |
Set your oven to 350 degrees. Dice and cube your romanesco, sunchoke, cauliflower, and sweet onion (medium to large cubes will work great). Toss in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place them in a cast iron pan and put in the oven for 25 minutes.
Once ready, place all in a separate dish to cool.
Use your hands to pull apart lettuce and then thinly slice all fennel bulbs into a large bowl. Save the fronds of the fennel for later. Break down the leaves of the parsley bunch and toss in salad bowl. Set aside.
In a deep pot, sweat one large onion and head of garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add the turmeric, Aleppo, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, salt and sunchokes to roast for an additional 4 minutes.
Add the squash and about 1 quart of water along with the kale. The ingredients should not be fully submerged. Cover your pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
While you await for your pot to simmer, prep your salad dressing.
Once ready, add one pint of your stew in a blender with the coconut milk, lemon juice, honey and cilantro. Blend until smooth and reincorporate with the remaining stew.
Add 1/2 of the sunchokes, cauliflower and romanesco into your salad bowl and the remainder in the stew. You are now ready to serve!
For the salad, drizzle your pomegranate vinaigrette and sunflower seeds or similar nut for an extra crunch. To plate your winter squash and sunchoke stew, garnish with fennel fronds, cilantro, olive oil, and Aleppo.
