Whole spices give this roasted squash side dish star power, featuring a maple sherry dressing, black lentils, crumbled feta and a flurry of fresh herbs.
Last week a friend sent me this article from FoodandWine.com, titled, Yes, Cooking can Help Improve Your Mental Health—Here’s What Health Professionals Have to Say About It. The article references a National Institutes of Health meta-analysis that examines the benefits of cooking beyond just nutrition. While the research is in its preliminary stages,it suggests that cooking has the potential to support a person’s mental well-being and “positively influence psychosocial outcomes.” The article also describes a new mental health treatment called “cooking therapy” where patients use cooking as a tool to alleviate anxiety, promote mindfulness and gain empowerment, in addition to creating healthier habits. The article quotes Yvette Sheline, M.D., director for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who notes that cooking can shut down anxious thoughts and tendencies. She states: “As the person engages in these activities, they shut out the anxieties and worries that might otherwise be present.”
We’ll get to this new recipe in just a second!
My jaw dropped in reading the article as this is exactly what we explore here in this newsletter (as well as in my forthcoming book)—how cooking can support our lives in rich ways, not just physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. It’s so exciting to see science gaining an interest in these topics, validating what so many of us already feel and experience. In my new podcast episode with
, for example, he shared how we uses cooking as a tool to manage depression. He stated:
…sometimes getting in the kitchen would help… just watching a knob of butter slump from the middle to the edge of the pan sometimes just made me feel better because I knew that in half hour, an hour, depending what I was cooking or baking, something would exist in the world that didn't exist before, and I created it… It's the validation of the I am. I am a cook. I am a person. I am a baker. I just created this. I did that. So energy is being transferred out of you into something else. And I think that's incredibly healing.
The simple acts of chopping, stirring, measuring, and tasting can be incredibly cathartic, getting us out of our minds and into our bodies. Even more, we’re creating something tangible with our own two hands, and there’s magic in that, especially in a world that seems to be increasingly technological and disembodied. David went on to say:
It's the heart of what creativity is—making something that didn't exist. Taking part of you [and] using your energy and creating something. And it's a loving gesture. It's a loving action. It's an act of self-love.
Of course, there are many creative pursuits that can support us emotionally, from gardening, to painting, to writing, to stamp collecting, to singing, and more, all of which can be equally as effective as cooking. It’s just, we all need to eat, several times a day. This week, can you devote at least one of your meals (or snacks) to yourself, as an act of love? As I mentioned in this post, it doesn’t matter if you’re simply spreading butter on toast (that counts!). Give the process your whole attention. Slip out of your mind and into your body. Smell, taste, settle. Be with you. Honor your creation. Nourish yourself with care.
The more we practice doing this in the smallest of ways, the easier it becomes. We nourish ourselves not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually in order to show up in the world as the fullest expression of ourselves, grounded, fed, and ready for whatever life throw’s our way.
If you could use support (in the kitchen and out), I’d love to be your cheerleader! In my one-on-one coaching and cooking sessions,I help clients uncover their challenges/blocks around cooking and eating, discover their unique digestion, tap into their intuition, and create meaningful shifts. Sign up at the link below (paid subscribers receive 20% off all sessions!).
Spice Roasted Squash with Black Lentils, Feta & Herbs
Today’s recipe was inspired by my friend Heather, who’s one of my kitchen muses. I can’t count the number of times she’s called or texted me describing a dish she’s craving, which is somehow always exactly what I’m craving at that exact moment (many of her sparks have led to recipes that have appeared here, like this Gochujang Maple Sheetpan Chicken!). A few weeks ago she texted that she was dreaming of a squash salad with lentils and herbs, and this recipe was born.
Like me, Heather is a lover of layered textures and flavors, and I knew I wanted to maximize both in this dish. The magic comes from an easy spice mix, made with whole coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, Aleppo pepper, ground cinnamon and allspice.
The spices impart a smoky-sweet warmth to caramelized squash slices, and they infuse a sherry-maple dressing with delicious depth. Black lentils provide a nutty flavor and slight chew, crumbled feta lends cool creaminess, and fresh dill and scallions are like the perfect pair of earrings, brightening up the whole ensemble.
Vegetarian Holiday Menu
It’s a stunning side dish to just about anything (perfect for Thanksgiving), and you can prep it ahead—make the dressing and lentils days before, and roast off the squash slices in the morning.
If you want to master your pie game before the holidays, right now I’m offering a discount on my Mastering Gluten-Free Pie Making Class. In the class you’ll learn the tricks for making a foolproof, flaky pie dough, learn essential pie making techniques, get new recipes, and discover the pleasure in making pies from scratch. Use the code THANKSGIVING at check-out to get a 30% discount, exclusive for newsletter subscribers.
Learn how to master double crust pies, galettes, and single crust pies (including the best quiche)
Recipe Tips:
I’ve been rather obsessed with koginut squash this year, which is suddenly everywhere (see how I transform it into a no-recipe potage soup in this video). It has a rich, sweet flesh, and there’s no need to peel it. You could swap it out for butternut squash instead.
Black lentils, sometimes called beluga lentils, are small, dark lentils with a nutty flavor and firm texture. You can swap them out for French green lentils, if you prefer (which you might have leftover from these lentil meatballs!). You’ll need 1 cup of cooked black lentils for this recipe—feel free to cook up a big batch and freeze them.
Uncooked and cooked black lentils
For a bit of crunch, feel free to scatter some chopped toasted pistachios, pecans or pine nuts over the finished dish.
While I adore creating this work, it’s also… well, work. Today’s recipe is for paid subscribers, whose contributions of just a few dollars a month make this entire project (a.k.a. my business) possible. If you’d like to hop over, I’m offering a 20% discount on paid subscriptions this month. Thank you so much for your support!
