Friday, December 21, 2007

Delicata Squash is My Hero...


...and my favorite new veggie.


I picked up some delicata squash for the first time this year actually by mistake. I went to the market looking for spaghetti squash and blindly believed the labels the market had put up.

Lucky for me I had never bought spaghetti squash before, so I didn't know what to look for. I brought the squash home and roasted it in the oven. When I sliced the cooked squash in half I quickly realized that this was not spaghetti squash at all and I had to change the plan for dinner. I chopped up the squash and made a yummy mild curry with tofu and veggies. It was delicious. So the next day I roasted the rest of the squash and we had it as a side. What a lovely vegetable. Sweeter and firmer than pumpkin, but not as dense as butternut squash, and so easy to prepare.

Why do we not see more recipes calling for this yummy treat?

No offense to butternut squash fans out there, but butternut squash can be very dangerous.

Both my husband and myself have sliced our fingers handling that massive gourd.


But not anymore!


Delicata Squash has saved the day.


Monday I roasted up a couple of them beauties and smashed their sweet flesh along with some melted (vegan) butter, rosemary, nutmeg, brown sugar, vegetable stock, salt and pepper. I tossed this with some whole wheat spaghetti, put it all in a casserole dish and topped it with some more herbs, bread crumbs, a little olive oil and some caramelized onions. Baked it for 30 minutes and we were in heaven.(This is an adaptation of a Veganomicon recipe based on what I had in the house!)


I'll bet it delicata makes for a great pie too.

Something to try this Christmas :)

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