"The Gates": An Homage in Squash

The big excitement in town this weekend is the opening of Christo and Jeanne Claude's "The Gates" in Central Park.  Throughout the entire park along a great number of the paths and walkways, these huge doorways have  been erected, each with its flapping pleated curtain.  They're all the same color -- an extremely bright shade that's being referred to in the press as "saffron".  Trust me, it's not really saffron.  It's a brighter orange than saffron.  It's more like squash.  Only "squash" doesn't sound nearly as literary as "saffron" does, does it.  I know it looks somewhat  saffron-y in this photo, but it needs color correction (as do my own photos, I know.  I'm hoping to get a new camera soon;  meantime I'm using G's video camera). 

Of course "saffron" made me think about food.  What would I cook this weekend to honor the opening of "The Gates"?  I thought long and hard about risotto -- maybe a classic risotto milanese.  But that's yellow, a stubborn little voice kept saying.   These banners or curtains or whatever they are are orange, more like.   And I know that this isn't the first time I've seen this shade called saffron.  People used to refer to the Hare Krishnas' "saffron-colored" robes, and they were orange, like this.  But saffron itself is red, when it's in its little pistils or threads.  And then the food it flavors and colors turns yellow, certainly a deep, rich yellow if you use enough.  But I'm not sure I've ever seen anything flavored with saffron that was orange.  I know I'm belaboring this, but accuracy, thou art a gem.

I didn't go to the park yesterday, but I passed through it on the way to dance class, so I saw them for myself.  Everyone was talking about it in class, too.   One woman was wearing orange shorts in honor of it.  Another woman talked about how much she hated it, how they had taken over "her" park, and how imposed-upon she felt.  Another said "What a waste of 21 million dollars."  Apparently she didn't realize that the Christos are paying for it themselves, and that the revenue from all posters and other items for sale will be donated to Nurture New York's Nature.  It's also projected to bring many millions to NYC in the usual economic doldrums of the post-Christmas season.  Most others, however, said they thought it was great.  One woman brought a snippet of the actual fabric.  Turns out they were giving away little squares as part of the day's festivities (this we found out after she'd been accused of taking scissors into the park and stealing it).  Ahhh, New Yorkers.  We're so opinionated.  But so loveably opinionated.  At least we think so.  And if you don't agree, you know what you can do, don't you?

So I was able to verify from close-up range that the color of "The Gates" is definitely orange.  Judge for yourself -- here are some better pics.   And I decided to make squash, butternut squash to be precise.  I have a recipe for a purée that is loosely adapted out of one of those old Cuisinart manuals from the 70s.  It's one of those simple, never-fail, I-didn't-know-squash-could-taste-so-good kinda things.  As it turns out, it's more the color of the raw squash, or even the plain baked squash, that's close to the tone of "The Gates".  Once it got puréed with the other ingredients (especially the parsley, I think), its orangey-ness was toned down somewhat, and its final color was closer  to...saffron.

Butternut Squash "The Gates"

1 large butternut squash
2 good sized shallots
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. crème fraîche
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Saw the squash in half lengthwise (use a decent knife and be careful of your fingers).  Scoop out the seeds from the cavities.  Cut the cavity bulb halves off the long solid neck pieces, and cut those pieces in two.  So you now have 6 chunks of squash.  Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.   Bake the squash chunks, cut sides down, on an oiled or buttered baking sheet, with a couple of splashes of water so that they steam a bit and don't get too dry.  The baking time will depend on the size of your squash.  Check after twenty minutes -- the round cavity pieces will be done long before the thicker stem ends, which will need at least 10 to 15 minutes more.  They should be very tender when you test with a knife -- the knife should sink right in (no, I'm not going to go any further with that phrase).  Let the squash cool a little while you do the next bit. 

Put the parsley and the peeled, halved shallots in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade.  Whiz them till finely chopped.  Peel the still-warm squash chunks (get all that skin off) and dump them into the processor on top of the chopped shallot-parsley mix.  Add butter, crème fraîche, salt and pepper, and whirr it all together until delightfully smooth.  At this point, you can eat it immediately, or remove it to a buttered casserole, top it with buttered crumbs, and bake it at your leisure.  Either way it's good stuff, being not only addictively tasty, but a luscious color as well and full of those good vitamins and things that only yellow-orange vegetables can give you.

This squash will be quite fetching tonight on a plate to be eaten with some extraordinarily delicious and crunchy oven-baked chicken adapted from a recipe by the late great Laurie Colwin (and if you haven't read Bakerina on the subject of Laurie Colwin, you must), and some very plain simple lovely palate-refreshing steamed green beans.    (Late-breaking news: and so it was...)

Comments

[ejm]

Hmmm. You haven't seen the saffron stains on my white serviettes then. They are pretty much the same squash orange colour. But I know what you mean. After several washings, the saffron stains are more golden now.

Your squash dish looks fabulous. Nice idea to add creme fraiche. Mmm, crunchy oven baked chicken... what time should we be there? Can we bring anything? How about a bottle of red wine?

And yup, I too am a fan of Laurie Colwin. I love her casual approach to supposedly difficult cooking.

-Elizabeth

[limine]

yep. saffron as a dye turns things quite orangey. if used heavily -- orange red. hence the saffron robes of various eastern religions. quite similar if not the same (haven't seen up close) of the gates.

but a minor detail.

really like the idea of saffron gates, personally. a beautiful symbolic gesture with meaning. just my opinion. (just in case you needed another one.)

[Julie]

Hi limine,

Thanks for stopping by -- I do know what you and Elizabeth mean about the saffron -- I've cooked with it quite a bit and have seen its color saturation abilities first hand. It's a little hard to explain what I mean about The Gates. When they're still, they can look like a bit too much like bright orange safety construction signs. That kind of orange. At other moments when there's a beautiful play of sunlight and shadow on them, the tones morph quite a lot and you can see an ombre range, like in the photos. In any case, I don't mean to carp. I find the scope of the project rather magnificent, and I'm more than able to appreciate it during its brief tenure. As I said in a later post, I'll also enjoy the natural beauty of the park again when they're gone.