Nutrient-Rich and Beautiful
Seeing all the various winter squash available at our farmers market these days is such a comforting and welcome sign of the fall season. Not only are they beautiful with all their varieties of shapes, colors, and sizes, but they also make nutrient-rich, delicious dishes! If you don’t cook winter squash often, they are probably high on the list of ingredients that seem like a lot to tackle, especially on a weeknight. There are ways to prepare winter squash that are simple, and yield great tasting results. They also lend themselves well to ahead-of-time prepping so that you can have it on hand to cook when you get home. It is even easy to find pre-cut options, especially butternut squash, in grocery stores. Stock up on some winter squash and enjoy!
- Buying – choose squash that are firm and heavy for their size. Make sure there are no soft spots or cracks. Butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash are the most common winter squash available, but for a good description on all varieties, click here. When buying butternut squash specifically, look for ones with long necks since that will give you more usable flesh.
- Storing – the thick skins on winter squash make them excellent for storing for about a month in a cool, dry place. Cooked squash can be frozen for several months.
- Cutting – most winter squash can be prepared the same way. A few, like butternut squash, or delicata, have thinner skins and aren’t quite as difficult to tackle if you want to cut them before cooking. A vegetable peeler works well on a butternut squash if you’d rather not use a knife. For opening up thicker varieties before cooking, make sure you have a steady work surface and a large enough knife. You may try slicing just a little off the bottom to give you a flat surface to make the squash steadier. Use a kitchen towel to help you stabilize the squash as you split it open. (Check out YouTube for instructional videos on how to cut squash.)
- Cooking – With the exception of spaghetti squash, winter squash can be cooked a few different ways. They can be roasted whole, like the spaghetti squash described below, but they can also be steamed whole, or cut up and then roasted.
- Spaghetti squash is best cooked whole. Once cooked, the flesh becomes stringy, like spaghetti, so it just gets scooped out. It is fun to use this squash instead of pasta, topped with spaghetti sauce of your choice. Prick the surface a few times with a knife or fork after rinsing, then roast in a baking sheet or pan for about 30 minutes. Rotate the squash, then roast for another 15 minutes or so. Let cool, then cut in half. Scoop out the seeds, then the stringy flesh.
- Steaming winter squash is also a great option, depending on the size of the squash. Just use a steamer insert so the squash is not sitting in the water, and rotate after a ½ hour. It will take the same amount of time to steam as it takes to roast, although steaming will preserve more moisture in the squash. For that reason, it is a good choice for soups and purees.
- If cutting into pieces and then roasting, heat oven to 400 – 450 degrees F and cook for about 25-30 minutes or more depending on the size of the pieces. Pieces can be seasoned before roasting.
Roasted Acorn Squash with Chile Vinaigrette
This is a recipe I cut out years ago from Gourmet, October 2006, magazine. I had never cooked acorn squash before, and I was so pleased with the results. It is one of the first recipes I think of when I buy acorn squash now. To make it a milder dish for kids, remove the seeds from the chile and/or use less of it. Kimberly
- 2 (1 ½- to 1 ¾- lb) acorn squash
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
- 1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh hot red chile, including seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven, and preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Halve squash lengthwise, then cut off and discard the stem ends. Scoop out seeds, and cut squash lengthwise into ¾- inch-wide wedges.
2. Toss squash with black pepper, ¾ teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons oil in a bowl, then arrange, cut sides down, in 2 large shallow baking pans (lined with foil or parchment to help with cleanup). Roast squash, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, until squash is tender and undersides of wedges are golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes.
3. While squash roasts, mince garlic and mash to a paste with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Transfer paste to a small bowl, and whisk in lime juice, chile (to taste), cilantro, and remaining ¼ cup oil until combined.
4. Transfer squash to a platter, and drizzle with vinaigrette.
Other winter squash recipes we love: