Sunday, January 11, 2009

the wonders of squash

beth and i each experimented with a different squash.
1) acorn squash

i simply followed the directions stickered on the squash. cut in half, scoop out middle. bake skin side up in 1" of water at 350 for about 40 minutes. fill with brown sugar and butter, salt and pepper to taste. continue to bake for 10 minutes.
after cooking. i kind of spread the brown sugar and butter out before serving.
it tasted like nuts and was kind of gritty/stringy. i was not impressed. but i'm sure it was the preparation. probably in a dish it would add a nice flavor. i am still unclear if the skin can be eaten or not. it seems like it might be a little tough, more like a rind, but i think i've seen pictures of it in dishes with the skin.
2. spaghetti squash
i found directions on the internet; i had the choice of either a. pricking it with a fork and placing it in the oven to bake (this way takes longer) or b. slice it in half and bake. i was not able to do this so i baked it for a little over an hour.
after the baking

sliced in half -- much easier this time. very sweet smelling at this point.





and scoop out the flesh -- which really does look like spaghetti. it has a pretty bland taste. i think i have a mental hurdle with squash. i remember as a kid "having" to eat it and not really liking it at all. although it was never this kind of squash. i think i have a general bias still. i realize that i should have moved beyond that at this point in my life....





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never liked squash growing up. My mom made what she called "Squash Casserole," which was one of those amazing 70s era old-school casseroles, but when I tortued her for the recipe, it used zucchini.

But its fun challenging old biases, sometimes isn't it?

PS. Butternut squash is actually pretty good in soup. :)

JKNEPFLE said...

I used to do "low carb" and got to love spaghetti squash, even tho I'm not a huge squash fan in general. The best way I found was to prick with a fork and then MICROWAVE for about 3 - 4 minutes (depending on the size), until it was just soft.

A great way to have it is to put some mizithra cheese and browned butter on it (a la The Old Spaghetti Factory). Yum!