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Ital Vital Farmers Market Caribbean Stew

Ital isn't short for Italian, it's Jamaican patois for pure, which these ingredients are.  Be freewheeling, though, Use whatever's fresh at the market. Vegetables play well with others.  Feel free to swap use any kind of chopped broccoli or green beans for the greens.  Go with the fresh greens of your dreams  -- kale, Swiss chard, or -- if you're lucky enough to score some at your farmers market, Jamaican callaloo -- the dark green iron-rich leaves of the amaranth plant.  Try replacing some of the pumpkin with carrots.  Add some celery.  To please the masses, I've shown restraint and been mingy with the chilis, but please, feel free to double the amount.  Some of us like it hot.      The point is to use what's in season, fresh and available.  You'll get more health out of it than the effort you put into it.  This stew is easy, seductive, gently spicy and gets its goodness from:
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Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves chopped
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger minced
  • 1 red pepper chopped
  • 1 habanero or its tamer rellie jalapeno, chopped
  • 1-1/2 pounds pumpkin or winter squash about 2 cups peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 15- ounce can organic diced tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 teaspoon allspice*
  • 3 to 4 cups callaloo spinach, kale or the greens of your dreams, sliced into ribbons for easy eating
  • 1 to 2 cups water or vegetable broth
  • 1/4 fresh cilantro chopped
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Instructions
 

  • Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion, pepper and garlic and stir until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
  • Add ginger and thyme, along with cumin, turmeric, and allspice, and cook stirring, for another minute, or until fragrant.  Add canned tomatoes and their juice.  Add pumpkin and greens, stir to coat. Add 1 cup water or broth, raise heat to high and bring to a boil.  Stir, reduce heat to simmer, cover with a lid and let it go for half an hour.  
  • When you come back, the greens will have wilted and vanished into the stew, the pumpkin will be tender.  Stir well.  Add more water or broth if the mixture is too thick for your taste.  Season with salt and pepper and chopped cilantro.
  • Keeps refrigerated for up to a week and flavor improves over time.

Notes

*Not a spice blend like it sounds but a true Caribbean berry with a haunting sweet spice, used in the islands as an analgesic and cure for aching belly and head.