eG Cook-Off #71: Winter Squash

[ChocoMom]

The Kabocha seeds aren't easy to come by, I've found.  While it is closely related to the Buttercup, its definitely in a league of its own. Even the heirloom seed company I order from doesn't have any of those seeds listed. And elsewhere, I can only find the Shokichi Green which is a mini, spotted-version of the Kabocha; the Shokichi Shiro- which is solid green; and the Cha-Cha, which is a mid-size version. I wonder if the crops here in the states might not have flourished, and there is a shortage of seeds?

 

On another note, I just cooked up my largest New England Sugar Pie pumpkin, and am about to launch into making pumpkin pies for tomorrow! YAY!!!!!

[Smithy]

Sorry--I was abreviating the original recipe. It calls for a fresh tomato sauce--onion, garlic, tomato, white wine, a dab of garlic, cooked down to make a sauce. This goes on the bottom of the dish. Slice the squash about 1/4 inch by 3 inches and saute or broil (the low fat method) until barely tender. Lay the slices on the tomato sauce in layers with cheese in between. I assume you'd salt and otherwise season the squash. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and it's bubbling. Scatter chopped fresh herbs--parsley, marjoram, thyme--over the surface and serve.

 

As I remember it--the last time I made it was many years ago--it was very satisfying.

 

Hope this helps--N.

 

Oh, my.  My, my, my. This was excellent! 

 

Based on your description I made this winter squash gratin for dinner tonight.  I halved, cleaned and sliced one of these squashes and added it to the already-sliced Delicata squash that I hadn't used a couple of nights ago.

 

 

I've forgotten the variety now.  I had thought it a particularly gnarly Delicata, but after the initial cooking the skin was still too tough to eat.  I had to peel each ring AFTER cooking and before assembling the gratin.  Let's hear it for music to work by.  The other ingredients (except the white wine) were these:

 

 

The finished gratin looked like this:

 

 

 

it would have looked better with a fresh herb garnish, but I have nothing like that with me.  Nonetheless this was a big hit.  We'll be doing it again.  Thank you, other Nancy!

[blue_dolphin]

That looks absolutely delicious, Smithy!  I have that cookbook but have never tried that particular recipe and put it on my list when Nancy posted about it. I'm now putting a star next to it to move it up the list!  

If anyone else is looking for the recipe, in addition to the Greens Cookbook, you can find it here and other places on the inter webs.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Has anyone else had trouble finding kabocha squash this fall? I see all kinds of other squashes, with butternut (including the cute little single-serving size variant), acorn, and delicata being particularly prominent right now, but I can't find a kabocha to save my life this year!

 

MelissaH,

 

I can usually find kabocha at my Asian grocer, and always at this time of year. I was surprised and delighted to see it in our local mainstream chain grocer, Food Lion, for the first time this fall on Tuesday when I went shopping there, so it's definitely catching on here.

 

I'm lucky to live in a cultural melting pot community with large Latin American, Chinese, Korean, Indian and other populations. There are quite a few mom and pop ethnic grocers and restaurants, but also many of the ingredients are popping up in the mainstream grocers as well. I love it!

 

Do you have an Asian grocer near you in New York? You would almost certainly find kabocha squash there now.

[MelissaH]

I'm lucky to live in a cultural melting pot community with large Latin American, Chinese, Korean, Indian and other populations. There are quite a few mom and pop ethnic grocers and restaurants, but also many of the ingredients are popping up in the mainstream grocers as well. I love it!

 

Do you have an Asian grocer near you in New York? You would almost certainly find kabocha squash there now.

My town is pretty much white. Once you get into the county, away from the university, it gets whiter. (My husband and I joke that diversity means you have some friends who go to the Irish Catholic church, some who go to the Italian Catholic church, and some who go to the Polish Catholic church.) For anything else, I'm driving an hour to Syracuse (where, alas, my favorite Asian grocer closed over the summer) or an hour and a half to Rochester. Last time I was in Syracuse, I didn't have time to go to the Asian grocer. Last time I was in Rochester, I was on the other side of town from the Asian grocers I like there.

 

I was surprised because in past years, kabocha squash has been readily available at the markets here.

[blue_dolphin]

A repeat breakfast:  roasted butternut squash and blue cheese warmed on a slice of toasted ciabatta.  A little drizzle of honey this time.

Plus a cup of coffee and a few walnuts. 

[BeeZee]

Roasted too much delicata squash with a miso/maple glaze (tasty, but it burned so glad I used foil lined pans) for Thanksgiving...will likely blitz it into soup.

[Steve Irby]

I've been buying these Georgia Striped Candy Roasters at the farmers market this fall and they are turning into our favorite variety. Great taste and color.  I usually roast them at a low temp in the oven till tender then  brush with butter and finish under the broiler to get a little caramelization.

 

 

I made a winter squash veloute for Thanksgiving dinner using a recipe from  http://franglaiskitchen.com/pumpkin-veloute-soup-recipe/. The soup is finished with apple matchsticks, cream of coconut and candied walnuts.  It was really delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[David Ross]

A repeat breakfast:  roasted butternut squash and blue cheese warmed on a slice of toasted ciabatta.  A little drizzle of honey this time.

IMG_2240.jpg

Plus a cup of coffee and a few walnuts. 

That's a beautiful dish and I can just imagine how delicious the pairing of sweet squash and tangy bleu cheese must be.  That's about a $20 appetizer on a fine dining menu!

[David Ross]

Steve your squash veloute is so tempting.  I was at dinner with a bunch of teenagers and they are actually quite adventurous and would love this dish. 

[Anna N]

Roasted squash with red glaze from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Asian Recipes. Typically used on meats the jury is still out on whether this glaze works with squash.

[David Ross]

Today I roasted that little Amber Cup pumpkin that I had been keeping.  It kept quite well over the past couple of weeks and wasn't any worse over time. 

 

 

Roasted the little beauty in a 350 oven for 35 minutes, then chilled, peeled, seeded and diced.  You can see the lovely orange color.  It was more than enough pumpkin meat to match with one bottled jar of mincemeat.  It's mingling right now with brandy and I'll use it next week in some small mince pies.

 

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

Lunch today. Roasted acorn squash quesadillas with some grated onion and gruyere cheese. Salsa might have been nice but the cupboard was bare.

[LindaK]

Vegetarian chili with lentils and pumpkin.

 

 

This made a nice break from Thanksgiving leftovers

 

 

[MelissaH]

Today I was back in Syracuse and visited my favorite remaining Asian market. They had a few kabocha squashes, the first I've seen in this area, so I snagged one.

 

Has anyone ever cooked one by microwaving it whole? I was thinking I'd stab it with a knife a couple of times and then nuke away.

[heidih]

Yes Melissa - I put it in whole until I think I can cut it in half to remove seeds, then back in MW til as done as I want. For me that is usually just enough to be able to chunk it for soup, or leaving it a bit more firm - to roast , but you can certainly nuke until quite tender once de-seeded and cut up into quarters or the like. If it is one of the dryer ones I might add just a hint of water to the container. Kabocha runs neck and neck with delicata for me in terms of delicious; though they are quite different.

[Smithy]

I'm definitely going to try kabocha, based on what I'm reading above.  In the meantime, I still have several squash in my stash to work through.  Most recently it was spaghetti squash.  This particular squash was much larger than we could reasonably eat in one sitting, so a common beginning spawned two different meals.

 

I split it raw, scooped out the seeds from one half, scored the cleaned half and drizzled it with oil, then roasted both halves, covered, until the squash flesh started to soften. I wanted to see what difference, if any, the initial treatment made.

 

It's easier to scoop the seeds out when the flesh is softening, but I couldn't tell a difference otherwise in the final product.  The freshly-cleaned half was also drizzled with oil, and both halves were roasted (covered) until the squash strands began to separate.

 

At that point onions, potatoes and ground turkey were added, then the mixture went back into the oven.  This was a convection oven, by the way.  I think a microwave would have been much more efficient.

 

 

Eventually it was mostly cooked, the squash was quite cooked, and there was free liquid to be boiled off.  I wanted browning.  I wanted the high heat of a skillet.

 

When I had the desired browning, I set aside half of the mixture for later.  

 

 

The first night's batch had a jar of vodka/tomato sauce stirred in and heated.

 

 

Dinner was wonderful.  There were leftovers, and we were happy with those as well.

 

 

A few nights later, the squash mixture that had been reserved prior to tomato sauce addition was given a curry treatment.  Curry powder and coconut milk took it in an entirely different direction, and it was also good.  Sorry, no pictures.  It was yellowish, not especially photogenic, but quite satisfying.

 

 

 

[LindaK]

Butternut Squash Carbonara with homemade fettuccini

 

 

Not a traditional carbonara (no eggs) but very satisfying nonetheless.  The base is a puree of squash, sauteed onions and garlic w/ some broth.   Add crisped pancetta (or bacon, if you wish) along with some grated parmesan cheese and fresh sage, a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin the sauce. 

 

The fresh pasta absorbs the sauce beautifully and results in a pretty, saffron colored dish.  Frying the sage leaves until crispy in the pancetta fat is a great trick, I love fried sage.  I crumbled most of it into the sauce but saved a leaf for garnish.  A good excuse to make some homemade pasta!

[shain]

Roasted butternut, carrot and sweet potato soup, with brown butter, chili pepper, cinnamon and ginger.

[Smithy]

Very nice, Shain! What are the greenish garnish things? Pepitas?

[blue_dolphin]

I cooked a pumpkin in the Instant-Pot this morning, puréed it (skin, seeds and all, à la hummingbirdkiss and used some in pumpkin pancakes:

Served with walnuts and maple syrup. 

[cyalexa]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I cooked a pumpkin in the Instant-Pot this morning, puréed it (skin, seeds and all, à la hummingbirdkiss and used some in pumpkin pancakes:

 

Served with walnuts and maple syrup. 

Could you share the recipe, or give a pretty detailed description if you didn't use a recipe. I have been trying to make pumpkin pancakes on-and-off for several years with minimal success. I had some I loved in a restaurant and when I asked if they would share the recipe was informed that they were from a mix. 

Edited December 13, 2015 by cyalexa
want to add something (log)

[cyalexa]

I probably should have searched before I asked as I just did and found the search was working again (thanks admin!).

[blue_dolphin]

6 minutes ago, cyalexa said:

Could you share the recipe, or give a pretty detailed description if you didn't use a recipe. I have been trying to make pumpkin pancakes on-and-off for several years with minimal success. I had some I loved in a restaurant and when I asked if they would share the recipe was informed that they were from a mix. 

 

I used a recipe I found online:  Light And Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes, attributed to Martha Stewart Living.  

I used half skim milk and half coconut milk (part of a leftover can in the fridge) and ended up adding a bit more milk as the batter was quite thick.

[cyalexa]

Thanks!