Squash and Hominy Stew is a delicious addition to any autumn weekend. This easy-to-make main dish is both hearty and attractive, especially when served in a pretty Squash Bowl.

Squash and Hominy Stew served in a bowl made from a roasted turban squash.

Friends in the Kitchen

The recipe for this lovely autumn stew is adapted from one posted by my friend Alanna at A Veggie Venture. Reading through her post just before Thanksgiving made me smile. Alanna and I have shared a number of holidays and I knew that I could trust her take on the recipe: that her Quick Green Chile Stew would be the perfect no-fuss pre-holiday warm-up.

The smile came from her advice to add something creamy to the bowl. Anytime you have more than one cook in the kitchen you are bound to have a few points of friendly disagreement. One that I remembered from way back when was Alanna’s idea to add cottage cheese to a bowl of corn chowder. While I understood her suggestion in theory, in my mind cottage cheese is meant to be eaten on it’s own, with just a few grinds of black pepper and a cracker. Enough said.

Reading through the recipe for Quick Green Chile Stew I saw that Alanna once again suggested adding “something creamy.” I still wasn’t sure the creamy part sounded good to me but it was only suggested as a topping. The basic recipe itself sounded wonderful to me, especially with the addition of salsa verde. Right away I looked around the kitchen for the ingredients to make a pre-Thanksgiving pot of my own.

Improvisation

I didn’t have an exact match for every ingredient. Good thing it’s one of those recipes that seems open to interpretation. I skipped the pumpkin as recommended and the poblano chiles since I didn’t have any on hand. Instead I roasted some squash to add to the stew in a sturdier form than the skipped pumpkin puree. That left me in need of more liquid so I added broth.

Then, while digging around in the cabinet, I found a can of hominy. That hominy reminded me of grits, a food that I had always enjoyed eating but would cause Alanna to shake her head. Again I smiled. I added the hominy, along with the beans, to what was becoming Squash and Hominy Stew.

Squash and Hominy Stew served in a bowl made from squash viewed from overhead.

Adaptation

Isn’t that the way we all cook? Every time I read comments following a recipe on, say, Epicurious, I am struck by the way it seems that almost everyone who tries the recipe actually tries a different recipe, adapted to their own habits and preferences as well as what they have available. And really, that’s okay, isn’t it? As long as you don’t blame the author for the way your adaptation turns out.

In this case, I found the adaptation every bit as appealing as Alanna did the original. Mine turned out a little too spicy for some of my guests but I liked it that way. I also enjoyed remembering the times Alanna and I once spent cooking together, learning from each other’s kitchen traditions and preferences, before we were separated by several thousand miles and more years than I care to admit.

I’ve made Squash and Hominy Stew several times since then. It really is delicious and easy to put together especially if you have leftover squash on hand. Try my version or Alanna’s, or change it up to make it your own.