Classic Baked Acorn Squash
Sometimes, on blustery fall nights, I can't help but crave the wholesome, warm taste of roasted butternut squash. So I buy one. Then I bring it home, try to cut it up, lose two appendages, and hand it over to my boyfriend before I die of blood loss on our kitchen floor.
Television chefs make it look so easy. They slice, cube, and skin butternuts with little strain, whereas I, possessing the muscle tone of a fetal Woody Allen, need a (freakin') pickaxe to make the smallest dent. It's times like those, when I lose a fight to a vegetable, that I turn to its fellow produce, the acorn squash.
Sweet, inexpensive, full of fiber, and (I find) infinitely easier to rend in two, acorn squash is a solid substitute for denser dinnertime starches. It's versatility is a plus, as well, since it's easily stuffed, puréed, made into soup, or my favorite - roasted, with a little bit of brown sugar. It's an easy preparation, but the rewards are pretty sweet. This version, which adds a smidge of maple syrup and butter, comes from a blog called Simply Recipes.
Ultimately, I'll never abandon butternut squash. It's too healthy, and too completely delicious. Still, for nights I don't have time for a hospital visit, the acorn variety is my squash of choice.
Classic Baked Acorn Squash
- serves 2-4 -
Adapted from Simply Recipes.
Ingredients
1 acorn squash
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
Dash of salt
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Using a strong chef's knife, and perhaps a rubber mallet to help, cut the acorn squash in half, lengthwise, from stem to end. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff in the center of each half. Score the insides of each half several times with a sharp knife. Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Add about a 1/4-inch of water to the bottom of the baking pan so that the skins don't burn and the squash doesn't get dried out.
3. Coat the inside of each half with 1/2 a Tbsp of butter. Add a dash of salt if you are using unsalted butter. Add a Tbsp of brown sugar to the cavity of each half. Dribble on a teaspoon of maple syrup to each half.
4. Bake in the oven for 60 to 75 minutes, until the squash is very soft and the tops are browned. Do not undercook. When finished, remove from oven and let cool a little before serving. Spoon any buttery sugar sauce that has not already been absorbed by the squash over the exposed areas.
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11 Comments:
Use a hammer on the butternut. Works like a charm.
outsidecounsel at 11:00AM on 11/03/08
We just slice it in half and nuke it for several minutes(boyfriend knows, 10min?), scoop it out and add butter and brown sugar. It's a dessert!
Tahitinova at 11:49AM on 11/03/08
Ouch! I've sliced off part of a thumb on the mandoline. Spouse got me a steel mesh glove for my "non-knife" hand. Highly recommended. It's also awesome in a sausage and chicken "cassoulet" (not true cassoulet since that can't have chicken in it.) Or just split and stuffed with wild rice and pork sausage.
ExpatChef at 11:56AM on 11/03/08
Hmmm. I never found butternut squash to be that much of a challenge. I bought a hubbard a few years back that was a bit hard to get into. The grower told me to take it outside and drop it on the sidewalk. It took several smashes to get the thing to shatter. He also told me not to try to disengage it from its skin before it was cooked -- just bake it with the skin on, and scoop it out afterwards.
dbcurrie at 1:08PM on 11/03/08
Agreed on all counts. I love butternut squash but don't have a tool capable of hacking it properly. So I usually get the ones that have already been halved or chunked in the store. All I have to do then is cook and eat.
benbenberi at 3:37PM on 11/03/08
To make the acorn squash even better....cube some apples and toss with the butter/sugar stuff...baked apples AND squash...you'll need more butter and sugar, but oh well. =)
akk328 at 4:46PM on 11/03/08
I usually roast acorn squash halved, flesh side down in a Pyrex dish with about an inch of water. Then you just scoop out the flesh and mash it with whatever. I like to split mine into the two sections of a divided casserole dish: one side is sweet, mixed with butter and brown sugar, and the other is savory, mixed with olive oil, herbs, and a hard cheese like pecorino.
Benitowine at 5:27PM on 11/03/08
Acorn squash is one of my favorite lunches to bring to work in the fall! I just bring half an acorn squash, microwave it, then melt butter in the cavity, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Delicious, and a nice alternative to eating sandwiches every day...
nyclocavore at 7:23PM on 11/03/08
Funny but I have the opposite problem. I find it far more difficult to saw through an acorn squash than a butternut. I usually cut the butternut at the base of the neck. I cut the neck in two sections then place the round parts cut side down and it cuts beautifully..
izzy's mama at 8:49PM on 11/03/08
That acorn squash recipe looks great.
With butternut squash, I've found that my giant CCK cleaver does the trick nicely. It's ridiculously sharp and heavy, but it'll split a squash with a single swing.
impeh at 9:52PM on 11/03/08
I agree that the acorn is more difficult to cut, and without a long neck to hold onto my fingers are closer to the blade. I love the idea of cubing the apples and stuffing with that--I also lay a strip of good bacon over top, the bacon soaks up some of the brown sugar and--YUMMY!!!
rvdebby at 11:51AM on 11/05/08