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Winter Squash and Sunchoke Stew with Salad

Salad and Stew in two separate dishes.
The only thing better than a hot meal on a cold winter night is one that’s made with farm-fresh ingredients harvested at their seasonal peak.

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.

Chef Michael Campbell holding his dishes of delicious organic ingredients!
Salad Ingredients
1head of romanesco
12sunchokes
1head of cauliflower
1/2 sweet onion
2heads of lettuce
4baby fennel bulbs
1bunch of parsley
4 tbspsolive oil
Pomegranate Vinaigrette Ingredients
1pomegranate, seeded
3 tbspshoney
5 tbspswhite balsamic vinaigrette
1 cupolive oil
1 tbspssalt
20pepper mill twists of black pepper
Winter Squash & Sunchoke Stew Ingredients
2your choice of winter squash, peeled, seeded and diced
18sunchoke, quartered
1large sweet onion, medium dice
1head garlic, peeled and chopped
4 tbspsolive oil
2 tbspsturmeric
1 tbspcumin
1 tbspAleppo pepper
1 tbspcinnamon
1 tbspblack pepper
5 tbspssalt
water to cover
2kale (finely chopped or frozen and smashed)
4 tbspshoney
juice of 3 lemons
2bunches of cilantro
213.5 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.

Sunschokes being chopped.

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.

Sliced fennel being added to bowl of greens.

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.

Turmeric being added to large pot.
Cubed butternut squash being added to pot.

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!

Lemon squeezed into bowl with pomegranates.

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.

A plate of butternut Squash and sunchoke stew with a side of pomegranate vinaigrette salad.