Here’s my Dark Days Challenge meal #7:

I made this dish a year ago, almost to the day. I “discovered” it in Puerto Rico, where it was warm and sunny. With several feet of snow outside, this is my reply.

I used this Arroz con Habichuelas recipe, with some substitutions to keep it local. This dish is meant to be served over rice (hence the arroz part of the name), but rice is still not local and the dish no certainly has no shortage of carbohydrates. So call mine Habichuelas sin Arroz!

Food sources:

• pancetta from Steve at Butcher’s Best, instead of ham, slowly rendered so there was no need for any additional oil
• diced bell peppers and onions (from the freezer) from Newtown Cedar Hill Farm.
• garlic from Sport Hill Farm
• pureed San Marzano tomatoes from Sport Hill Farm (from the freezer from this day—Patty, these are really excellent!)
• white potatoes from Maple Bank Farm
• Cranberry beans from Don Taylor Farm, dried (picture below)
• thyme from my garden
• chicken stock, homemade from Stuarts Family Farm chickens
• pumpkin from Deeply Rooted Farms

One of the things I like most about this dish is that it’s something else (and a really original something else at that) to do with pumpkin (or any squash). Another thing I like is leaving the skin on the pumpkin. I had no idea the pumpkin skin was edible until I had this dish in Puerto Rico, but it is and it does get tender when cooked. And finally, there’s the roasted pumpkin seeds as a bonus.

One of the inherent pleasures of the dark days and the Dark Days Challenge is cracking into the harvest bounty so faithfully preserved. It’s like Christmas every day.