What kind of Squash are these?

[Aloha Steve]

What are they and any recipes can you suggest to make with them ? I bought them at WFM which sourced them locally.

[LesleyC]

The one on the left looks like Butternut. My two favourites means of eating are roasted in a little lard (peel, seed and cut large chunks) - baste/turn every 15 minutes and roast for 60-90 minutes at 180C. Caramelises at the edges to a drak brown, almost black and is very sweet. You can sprinkle with whole cumin before roasting if you like too.

Butternut soup is another fave in this house. Simmer in enough water to just cover for about 30 minutes, until soft. Throw in blender with a little chicken stock. Spice it up as you like (cumin again a lot of the time). Serve with a dollop of cream poured in after serving and some cilantro leaves sprinkled over.

Can also be boiled an mashed - a local (S.African) 'tradition' would be to mix some sugar in with the mash.

Butternut is m all time favourite squash

[Angela Knipple]

The one on the left looks like a variety of butternut. The one on the right is a delicata.

[Angela Knipple]

Our favorite way to eat butternut squash is simply to bake it under foil until it's soft, discard the seeds, then mash the pulp with a little butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg.

Delicata is an interesting squash. It has large seeds that you will want to scoop out, and the skin can be tough if it's an older squash. A simple preparation would be best. Just saute thin slices in olive oil or butter with a sprinkle of salt and pepper to let the flavor of the squash come through. Cook them just long enough for them to be tender, but still crisp.

[djyee100]

That's the chunkiest butternut squash I've ever seen on the left. Delicata squash on the right. I can't offer any suggestion for the delicata squash. I find them difficult to peel (not that much flesh inside, it seems to me), so I simply roast and butter them. Butternut squash, OTOH, is great for soup or pie.

I cook butternut squash-ginger soup starting from Beverly Gannon's carrot-ginger soup in her General Store cookbook. I do a 1:1 substitution of butternut squash for carrots. BTW, the carrot-ginger soup is good too. The recipe is on Googlebooks, page 12.

http://books.google.com/books?id=hUK0obUbHHYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=beverly+gannon&cd=2#v=onepage&q=carrot%20ginger%20soup&f=false

My favorite squash pie, made with brandy, comes from David Lebovitz in his Room For Dessert cookbook. This blog has an adapted recipe for the pie (same ingredients, different instructions):

http://pghtasted.blogspot.com/2008/10/butternut-squash-pie.html

[KatieLoeb]

I find either pretty easy to cook. Cut in half and scoop out the seeds. If you want to microwave them then put water in the empty cavity and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Microwave on high, turning 90 degrees halfway through, until tender.

These can also be roasted face down on a buttered cookie sheet or in a small amount (1/4" to 1/2") of water in a glass baking pan until tneder.

Delicata are one of my favorite squash. I eat them a lot in the autumn as they're readily available at my local Farmer's market from Sept-December. Really good with melted butter and a bit of pumpkin pie spice or just a bit of freshly grated nutmeg. No need to peel them. They scoop out of the shells easily enough when they're cooked through.

[KarenDW]

Delicata: sometimes the skin is tender enough to eat. Usually we scoop out the seeds, slice, toss w/ olive oil-s&p, and bake/roast on a sheet pan. 400ºF, 15 min.

[Aloha Steve]

Delicata are one of my favorite squash. I eat them a lot in the autumn as they're readily available at my local Farmer's market from Sept-December. Really good with melted butter and a bit of pumpkin pie spice or just a bit of freshly grated nutmeg. No need to peel them. They scoop out of the shells easily enough when they're cooked through.

Katie, I'm going to try your way for the Delicata. Simple and delicious sounding for my first go at a squash.

For the Butternut, I am working myself up to making stuffed ravioli with it. I ate them at Lupa the other night and they were excellent. I've been gathering recipes for a while now, so..............wish me luck and I will post my results for both.

Thank you all !

Edited January 3, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Aloha Steve]

I made the Delicata with two different seasonings.

I cut it in half, took out the seeds and strings, then roasted for 12 minutes, then filled each half with:

Katie's butter n pumpkin spice and

Karen's EVOO S&P

The returned to roast about 8 minutes more.

They both taste very good....I will make again and am now no longer apprehensive about making squashes.

Thank again ALL.

[KatieLoeb]

Awesome. My work here is done.

It's easy to be intimidated by a big tough hunk of vegetable that you have no idea how it tastes or what texture it ought to be. However, most vegetative matter is fairly tame if approached in that manner and can actually become a part of the regular rotation once you've beaten it into submission once .

[andiesenji]

Awesome. My work here is done.

It's easy to be intimidated by a big tough hunk of vegetable that you have no idea how it tastes or what texture it ought to be. However, most vegetative matter is fairly tame if approached in that manner and can actually become a part of the regular rotation once you've beaten it into submission once .

You are so right about some people being intimidated by unusual vegetables and the squash family has to be right up at the top of this category.

A few days prior to Christmas, one of my friends drove up here from Valencia, (1 1/2 hours round trip) so I could show her how to deal with a large Hubbard squash (the newer red variety) and an equally large turban squash. Her sister-in-law had given them to her in a basket of other winter garden produce but was dismissive when my friend asked her how to prepare them.

She was hosting the family for Christmas dinner and the SiL had volunteered the produce and expected it to be incorporated into the dinner.

I used my giant antique meat cleaver to split the Hubbard and my battery powered recip.saw to "behead" the turban squash so it could be partially pre-baked to be used as a bowl for squash soup.

Now that Ellie knows how to handle these giant squash, she is ready for anything of a similar nature.

[Kayakado]

No one mentioned roasting the seeds. Any time we cook squash, we clean and roast the seeds for snacking later.