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Squash
and Pumpkin Recipes
THE SCOOP ON SQUASH
Information provided by:
Household Hints by Susan Doyle
Winter Squash is harvested when the shell and seeds are hard and inedible.
This delicious squash is now available year round but enjoyed particularly
in the fall and winter for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kept under cool dry
conditions, it will last up to three months.
Winter Squash is a rich source of nutrients like beta-carotene and vitamin
C
and E. Hubbard and Butternut Squash contain enough beta-carotene to supply
100% of the RDA for Vitamin A in a single 3-1/2 ounce serving. Squash also
contains complex carbohydrates, fiber and potassium and is virtually free
of
fat. One cup of cooked squash equals one starch exchange in a diabetic diet
plan.
Bake whole or halved
, par boil for 10 minutes and place cut side down in a
glass-baking dish with ½ inch water and bake at 350 to 400 degrees
until tender 30-45 minutes. Halfway through cooking turn the squash cut
side
up
and brush with a little butter, maple syrup or honey. Remove skin and cook
like you would potatoes for mashing. Try mashing cooked squash with sautéed
onions, garlic or herbs or combine with cooked corn, chopped tomatoes,
or
cooked chopped bell peppers.
Try cooking squash halves filled with applesauce, bananas, chopped
cranberries or sprinkle inside with lemon, lime or orange juice, cinnamon
or
brown sugar.
You can cook squash in your microwave by arranging halves cut side up
in a
shallow microwavable dish. Add a little water, cover and cook until
tender,
rotating the dish half way through cooking. Cook from 7-10 minutes
and let
stand 5 minutes before serving.
We define winter squashes by taste. The sweet ones include
delicata, kabocha, buttercup, butternut, carnival, sweet dumpling,
sugar loaf and acorn (with three varieties). While they vary in size,
shape and texture, all have a mild, sugary flavor, she says.
While savory squashes can be sweetened with cinnamon and spices,
these squashes have what Millar calls a "robust" flavor. These
include Australian blue, banana, golden nugget, red kuri, turban and
hubbard (three kinds), which make excellent soups and stews.
Winter Squash
In my opinion, winter squash is better than fruit and I LOVE fruit. I'd take
a good acorn squash over watermelon any day. There are some important things
you need to know before you try it though.
- There are several different kinds of winter squash and many of them have
a very unique taste. Butternut is probably the most popular squash and easiest
to find. Acorn and spaghetti squash are also found in most food stores.
Buttercup
and kabocha squash are delicious as well but harder to find.
- They have a different sweetness than fruit. You might not like squash
the 1st time you eat it or you just might not fully appreciate the taste. I
didn't. But once you eat it a few times you'll love it, the key is to give
it
a chance.
It really, really grows on you.
- One of the problems
with winter squash though is that it can be very inconsistent. Usually
it depends
of the farm. If one squash isn't
that great than the rest
of the batch probably isn't much better. Once you find a good batch
they are usually all good. That's when I stock up cause when they're
in season they
can last for several weeks & even months. Squash will also ripen,
you'll want to make sure it's ripe before you eat it.
- Squash should
be big, usually the bigger the better. It should be very dry, hard, difficult
to
cut and heavy for its size. The darker it
is on the inside,
the better. If the skin of the squash is dark(spaghetti & butternut)
it usually means it's darker and riper on the inside.
- Cut squash in half(lengthwise), scoop out the seeds(like a pumpkin) and
place the open side down on a baking pan. Do not add any water to the
pan, that'll steam the squash instead of baking it. Some squash like spaghetti
squash
or
hubbard squash can be very difficult to cut. I usually stick
the knife straight into the middle so that it's sticking up, like planting
a flag. Then
I pull
the knife down, towards me, while twisting it left and right.
You can also use a small handsaw(no joke) or just prick some holes in it and
bake it
for
20 - 30 minutes. Then take it out, cut it, and continue baking.
- Bake it in your
oven @ 400 degrees for at least 1 ½ hours
and up to 2 hours. You want it to actually "bleed" and that only
happens when you cook it for a while. The label and most recipes will say
to
cook it for
a half an hour or so or even to microwave it. Trust me, you
do not want to do this. You want to dry the squash out as much as possible,
the less
water
it has the sweeter it is. It's like drinking 8 ounces of soda
or 8 ounces of soda with 4 ounces of water. Yeah, you're drinking the same
amount
of soda,
but the one without the water will be sweeter. Basically you
want to take the squash out right before the bottom starts to burn. You want
the squash to caramelize.
The squash will be much more satisfying as well when it's not
all watery,
particularly when eaten cold.
- I just eat it with a little salt. And actually, I prefer squash cold,
ice cold in fact. I cook it the night before I eat it and let it
cool. Then I refrigerate
it and when I'm ready to eat the squash I put it in the freezer
for about 20 minutes, it's almost like ice cream(take it out right before
it starts to
freeze).
A lot of people season acorn squash with cinnamon and have
spaghetti squash with tomato sauce(I wouldn't do that with really good spaghetti
squash).
So give squash a chance, a couple of chances in fact. I'd recommend
starting with Butternut squash, it seems to be the most consistent
so
you won't be turned off by some less than stellar squash.
Common types
of squash
- Butternut squash:
Easily found in supermarkets. Beige colored and shaped like a vase. This
is a
more watery squash and tastes somewhat
similar
to sweet potatoes.
If you're a "squash virgin" I suggest starting
out with this one as it is the most consistent squash.
This one leaks a lot of liquid
while cooking
and you might even want to drain the liquid(which
can be quite delicious, you can just drink it) after
an hour
or
so of cooking so that the squash
doesn't
get steamed and cooks quicker.
- Acorn squash: Also
easily found in supermarkets. May be my favorite
squash although it can be very inconsistent. If the
squash
is shiny and a very dark green that means it's not quite ripe yet. Wait till
it
starts to get a little
dull with some orange coloring on the skin. You'll
know you have a good squash
if you cut it open and it's a dark orange, light
yellow means it won't be as sweet.
- Spaghetti squash: Also easily found in supermarkets.
These look like yellow footballs with stringy flesh. This squash really
has a shell instead of skin.
Usually not as sweet as the other squashes, but
occasionally you may luck out and get some unbelievably sweet and delicious
ones. Look
for ones with
a smooth,
dark yellow shell. Best one I ever had was over
5 pounds.
- Buttercup squash: Rich flavor, tastes very much like peanut butter.
- Kabocha
squash: Usually very, very dry and flaky but delicious. You'll get the
most bang for your buck from this one because
kabocha squash will hardly shrink at all after cooking and gives off very
little
liquid. 8 lbs
of
uncooked
butternut squash, for example, will only yield
a little more than 3 lbs of cooked squash. A dry squash like this one will
freeze
the
best too. This one
might be our favorite squash.
- Hubbard
squash: HUGE & a somewhat similar taste to Kabocha squash.
Very, very good.
- Sweet Dumpling squash: Many refer to this as the best sweetest squash
of them all. Although very good, I think I prefer
some of the others a little more.
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