I wasn’t planning on doing another squash recipe post for a while. I don’t want to seem like I’m squash obsessed, or lacking any original recipe ideas. In the 5 or so months that this blog has been up, I’ve made roasted butternut squash risotto, a butternut squash loaf, roasted acorn squash and now this whole roasted acorn squash. I guess that’s not too bad right? It doesn’t even average out as once per month, which if compared to the amount of squash that we have actually consumed during this period is quite controlled.
I’m known for being controlled.
No, truthfully we’ve had this squash sitting around for a good month and I finally felt obligated to put it to use this weekend. There’s only a certain amount of time I can handle holding on to things, even if they have a long shelf life, I start to feel guilty after a couple weeks. Yes I have food guilt. Another charmingly complicated emotion I have inherited from one or both of my parents. I mean obviously leaving a squash sitting out on the counter for a few weeks is violating some kind of moral standard!
Anyway, this recipe is loosely based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, where he uses a smaller round squash he calls cricket ball squash. While I’ve yet to come across this variety in the North West, the edition of sun dried tomatoes is what make this recipe stand out from the rest. It is a lovely pairing and adds some additional richness as well as a little acidity to the squash. I made this for myself for lunch over the weekend and ate it with a spoon as is straight from the pan.
Whole Roasted Acorn Squash – serves 2 as a side or a snack – adapted from Jamie Oliver
1 acorn squash
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons roughly chopped sun dried tomatoes
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
Using a sharp knife cut the top off of the squash and scoop out all of the pulp, reserving the seeds and place into a baking dish. You may have to slice off a bit of the bottom, depending on the squash so it stands upright, if so be careful to take off as little as possible because you don’t want the bottom to collapse.
Place the butter and sun dried tomatoes into the squash, moving it around a bit to coat the sides. Season the inside with the nutmeg and salt and pepper.
Place the cleaned seeds in the baking pan next to the squash and drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for 15 minutes or until the seeds are golden brown, remove the seeds and continue to roast the squash for another 20 minutes or so or until soft.
Serve with the toasted seeds and a spoon straight from the pan.
