Acorn squash

Finally!  This week starts winter squash.  Acorn squash, to be specific.  Wahoo!

Yeah, I guess I get excited about these things a little too easily.  But this makes it okay to start fall now.  Great!  So what do we do with it?

Acorn squash is quite the blank canvas.  In most cases it's baked.  Like most winter squash, you'll need to plan some time for this.  Definitely worth the wait!  The recipes we're going to look at today involve cutting it in half, scooping out the seeds, and roasting it.  Usually, this is done in two phases,  First, salt and pepper the inside of the squash, coat with some olive oil, and put it in a roasting pan.  Adding 1/2" water to the pan keeps the squash from scorching and sticking.  Bake at 350-400˚ for about 30 minutes.  Add the filling, and bake it for about another 30 minutes.

It's what gets put back in the center that makes the difference.  Stuffings can be either sweet or savory.  For example, for the savory option, stuffing it with meat and herbs.  Interestingly, acorn squash lends itself to spiced stuffings as well, such as this Moroccan recipe or even this one with hot peppers.

Photo via Food & Wine

A savory-sweet stuffing works well, but you can even make acorn squash into dessert.  Below is a slightly modified recipe I got from a cookbook I found at Mohegan Sun casino's gift shop.  Cranberry-stuffed acorn squash can almost be a dessert!  (For fall recipes, Native American-inspired cooking is full of interesting ideas.  One of my most prized cookbooks is one by the chef at the National Museum of the American Indian.  If you haven't eaten in the cafeteria there, GO NOW.  I'd put it up against any high-end restaurant I've experienced.)

Cranberry-stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients:

• 4 acorn squash
• 1 1/2 cups whole fresh cranberries
• 1/2 tsp grated orange zest
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/2 cup maple or brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp hazelnut oil (do not substitute for this!)

Directions:

1. Cut each squash into halves and discard the seeds.  Trim the ends so that the halves will stand.  Place cut side down in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Cool to room temperature.
2. Combine the cranberries, orange zest, apple sauce, sugar, and hazelnut oil in a bowl and mix well.  Spoon into the squash.  Place filled side up on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes longer.  Serve immediately, with whipped cream if desired.

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

When it comes to squash, The Mister is highly skeptical.  It's probably due to one memorable in a not-so-good-way faux alfredo sauce that used pureed squash rather than any cream or cheese.  In theory it should have been delicious, in reality the only way we could eat it was to slather it with hot sauce.  Yes, it was that gross.  So I've had to slowly win him back over to the world of squash.  And the one dish that finally did it was Maple Roasted Acorn Squash.  The sugar in the maple syrup and the natural sugars in the squash meld together and caramelize to essentially candy the squash, and it is DE-LISH!  You don't even need to skin the squash as it gets nice and soft.  I made this as a side dish to some baked chicken, and it was so good, I sliced up another acorn squash so we'd have plenty of leftovers!  So put down the pancakes and pick up the acorn squash, as maple syrup has a new BFF!

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, halved, seeds scooped out and sliced into 1/2" wedges

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Pinch or two coarse ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Toss acorn squash in olive oil and maple syrup, spread evenly onto a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle pepper evenly over top.  Roast for 20-30 minutes until squash is soft and is starting to turn golden brown.

Serve as a side dish to fish or poultry, or toss with a fresh kale salad (massage that kale!!) with a light vinaigrette and some pomegranate seeds.

Thanksgiving Favorites: Roasted Winter Vegetable Medley

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Roasted Winter Vegetable Medley

From the kitchen of our own “Tie-Dye” Ann!

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash, halved, seeds removed, and cubed
1 head of cauliflower, rough chopped (save the greens!!!)
Cauliflower greens, removed from stalk and rough chopped
1/2 bundle of kale, leaves removed from stalk and rough chopped
1 quart brussels sprouts, stalk trimmed and sprouts halved
4 baby potatoes, cubed
Olive oil
Dizzy Pig Cow Lick Seasoning

**You can also throw in sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, garlic, parsnips or turnips

Preheat oven to 415 degrees.

Prep all of your veggies and if you're making as much as I did, you'll need 2 baking sheets, one for the greens and one for the rest of the veg.

On one sheet, evenly spread out vegetables, minus the kale & cauliflower greens.  Drizzle with a good bit of olive oil, enough to well coat everything.  You don't want them swimming in oil, but you need enough oil for them to caramelize rather than burn.  Then season generously with the Cow Lick Seasoning.  Toss the veggies to evenly coat each piece and place into the oven onto a lower rack to begin roasting.

Prep your kale & cauliflower greens the same way, and then let them sit tight, as you won't pop them into the oven until the other veggies have roasted for about 15-20 minutes.  Place the sheet of greens into the oven onto a top rack and roast for 5-10 minutes, checking to make sure nothing is starting to turn into kale chips (if so, you may need more oil).  Remove both sheets of veggies from the oven, and combine the greens onto the pan with the rest of the veggies, carefully tossing to mix everything up.  Then place them all back into the oven to roast for another 15-20 minutes.  Keep an eye on things, and turn veggies about every 5-10 minutes to allow browning on all sides.  If after a full 40 minutes of roasting things are still not browning up and the squash is still not soft, then put them back in the oven and make them suffer longer! 

Roasted Winter Vegetable Medley

As I mentioned in the Crop Share spoiler e-mail, Ann on our staff (many of you know her as Tie-Dye Ann!) has been bringing in delicious smelling leftovers of this veggie medley she's been roasting up on a regular basis.  Now the fact that it contains cauliflower and I even thought it smelled good and looked appealing, should tell you something right there!  So Friday night when I got home from a day of Crop Sharing and shivering, I decided to annihilate nearly everything in this week's share by roasting my veggies Ann style.  To say they were delicious is a vast understatement.  In fact, I even made vegan soyrizo mac & cheese (may sound gross, but trust me, it's taco dip on pasta...just minus the calories and cholesterol) which is our guilty pleasure comfort food at home, and both of us finished our veggies before we'd taken 3 bites of the mac & cheese.  The Mister even said, "What on earth did you do to turn this mix of disgusting vegetables into the best thing I've eaten in a long time?"  The secret...roast the heck out of it, a generous bit of olive oil, and Dizzy Pig's Cow Lick Seasoning (available in store).  That's the winning combo!  Plus, I even got super daring and decided to waste not, want not and roast up the cauliflower leaves too.  Amazingly delicious decision!  So whether you use the veggies I did or you come up with your own mix, this is an excellent way to use up your Crop Share veggies, especially any of that hard squash you still have hanging around.

Roasted Winter Vegetable Medley

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash, halved, seeds removed, and cubed
1 head of cauliflower, rough chopped (save the greens!!!)
Cauliflower greens, removed from stalk and rough chopped
1/2 bundle of kale, leaves removed from stalk and rough chopped
1 quart brussels sprouts, stalk trimmed and sprouts halved
4 baby potatoes, cubed
Olive oil
Dizzy Pig Cow Lick Seasoning


Preheat oven to 415 degrees.

Prep all of your veggies and if you're making as much as I did, you'll need 2 baking sheets, one for the greens and one for the rest of the veg.

On one sheet, evenly spread out vegetables, minus the kale & cauliflower greens.  Drizzle with a good bit of olive oil, enough to well coat everything.  You don't want them swimming in oil, but you need enough oil for them to caramelize rather than burn.  Then season generously with the Cow Lick Seasoning.  Toss the veggies to evenly coat each piece and place into the oven onto a lower rack to begin roasting.

Prep your kale & cauliflower greens the same way, and then let them sit tight, as you won't pop them into the oven until the other veggies have roasted for about 15-20 minutes.  Place the sheet of greens into the oven onto a top rack and roast for 5-10 minutes, checking to make sure nothing is starting to turn into kale chips (if so, you may need more oil).  Remove both sheets of veggies from the oven, and combine the greens onto the pan with the rest of the veggies, carefully tossing to mix everything up.  Then place them all back into the oven to roast for another 15-20 minutes.  Keep an eye on things, and turn veggies about every 5-10 minutes to allow browning on all sides.  If after a full 40 minutes of roasting things are still not browning up and the squash is still not soft, then put them back in the oven and make them suffer longer!  They'll be done when they look bronzed like the photo above.

This makes a ton, so it would be a great Thanksgiving side dish, or one to re-heat portions in the oven for a ready-to-go side dish for weeknight meals.

Acorn & Butternut Squash Soup by Crop Share Member Brandi Collins

Several weeks ago, Crop Share member Brandi Collins posted on our Facebook page about this Acorn & Butternut Squash soup she had made.  I knew right away, we had to have that recipe and I had to share it with you all.  So here it is, from Brandi's kitchen to yours, a Fall squashtacular soup that is just what the Daylight Savings Time sleepies need.  Plus, if you've been perplexed by the Buttercup squash from this past week, you can easily substitute that in for either the acorn or butternut in this recipe, and use up some of your Amish candy onions in place of a regular sweet onion!

Acorn & Butternut Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 butternut squash, halved and seeded 1 acorn squash, halved and seeded 3 tablespoons butter 1/2 chopped sweet onion 1 quart chicken broth 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper Salt to taste fresh parsley, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the squash halves cut side down in a baking dish. Bake 45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, and cool slightly. Scoop the pulp from the skins. Discard skins.
2.	Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion and garlic until tender.
3.	In a blender or food processor, blend the squash pulp, onion, broth, cream cheese, pepper, and salt until smooth. This may be done in several batches.  This may also be done in the pan with an immersion blender.
4.	Transfer the soup to a pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Garnish with parsley, and serve warm.

Cropshare Member Guestpost: Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

I ate cauliflower, but it was delicious because it wasn’t cauliflower

So, I’m taking a crack at this – once upon a time in a land far, far away (Richmond) my husband (CRB) and I had a blog of places we went to eat there were amazing, but that stopped when we moved to Herndon exactly four years ago (now we’re in Alexandria) and our lives haven’t been right-side-up since!  But, through four years of insanity, we have maintained one thing – our undeniable adulation for eating delicious things. My boss loves to say, “I eat to live, but you clearly live to eat.” And that we do!

So when I joined the crop share I was excited, but I was dismayed to find out that cauliflower was in our first crate. I looked at CRB and said “Really? I think I made a mistake.” He laughed and told me it would be fine. Then he went to play with the dog (our 1-year old Yorkie, Pickles), so I figured I had to make a plan for this cruciferous crime against yum. We’ve been experimenting (gently, because I have nut allergies) with paleo-type meals, and I found this recipe below, which hides the fact that cauliflower is even there. It masks it and uses it as a thickener, which I must say, is what it’s AMAZING for! My husband did nearly remove one of his digits chopping the squash (while I languished in bed until about 11 am on a Saturday…aaah, the joys of marrying an early bird), so I recommend checking out Tara’s blog on dissecting the butternut squash to remove the “honey, do you think this is bad enough for a doctor or can we just staple it back together?” discussion from your life. And no, I’m not kidding about the staple comment. He’s done that. Sigh.

Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped

1 butternut squash, cubed

2 acorn squashes, cubed

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

½ can coconut milk

2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon raw honey

1-2 teaspoons salt

⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

dash of black pepper

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients into a slow-cooker and roast on low for at least 8 hours (we did it for 24 because we kept forgetting to eat it. Or maybe I kept forgetting to remind him to eat it…maybe). Stir every so often to rotate the ingredients. When done, use an immersion blender or food processor to puree everything. Enjoy!

This had me looking at him saying “did we forget to put cauliflower in here? I don’t taste sadness, I taste only happiness!” He rolled his eyes and batted our pup from his lap saying “NO Pickles, this is daddy’s dinner!” So even the dog liked it…still not sure if that’s a compliment, given that he eats leaves and pine needles when we’re not looking. But the hubs loves it, and has loved having it as a leftover in his lunch, so that was good enough for me! I hope you’ll try this and find it to be delicious too.

Sausage & Apple Acorn Squash via Crop Share Member Kat

Last week Crop Share member Kat commented on one of our posts on Facebook saying that she was going to take the acorn squash and stuff it with apples and sausage.  Um...YUM!  So we asked her to send her delicious-sounding recipe our way, and here it is for all of us to enjoy, Sausage & Apple Acorn Squash.  I love that she recommends using pastured pork, meaning free range, happy, roaming about pork.  Happy pork makes yummy pork!

Sausage & Apple Acorn Squash via Kat

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash (sliced in half and seeds removed)
1/2 lb Pastured pork (I recommend Mt. Vernon Grassfed Farm, Smith Meadows Farm or Fields of Athenry)
2 apples (chopped into small pieces)
1/2 red onion (chopped into small pieces)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cover squash halves with foil and bake at 400 for about 1 hour.  Each half will be a bowl.

Brown sausage in skillet, remove meat to drain off fat.

Add the sausage back into the skillet and mix with the apples and onions.

Spoon mixture into the baked acorn squash bowls.

Top with Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired.

Chorizo & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

The start of this Fall Crop Share round is my 1 year Crop Shareversary!  My very first visit to Nalls was last years Block Party, and that day I signed up for the Fall Crop Share.  So as of tomorrow, I will have been a Crop Share member for a whole year.  So to say Crop Share has been life-changing for me would be an understatement.  Granted, it won't get all of you your dream job and have you fulfill your childhood wish of working with a pig, but it will transform your eating habits, create new family traditions, and enhance your cooking skills.  So last year's Fall round was my first experience cooking and eating a lot of hard squash varieties, and this recipe for stuffed acorn squash was my first go round with this type of squash, and is perfect for your single-serve size squash like acorn and carnival.  There's just a touch of chorizo to help give this a bit more heartiness, and then the super protein and fiber from the quinoa and the antioxidants from the dried cranberries make this a hearty yet healthy rustic dish.  And the base recipe for baking up the squash is a great trick to use on most squash to soften up the flesh, especially if you're planning on scooping it out to chop or puree.

Chorizo & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

1 acorn or carnival squash, halved and seeded

1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I'm going to try this with some wild rice instead, too!)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

3 oz chorizo, crumbled

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Coarse ground salt & pepper to taste

Cook quinoa or wild rice according to package directions and set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place halved squash in a baking dish with about 1/4 inch of water.  To allow the squash to sit better in the pan, slice a small part off the ends to allow them to sit flat.  Cover with foil and bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes or until flesh is soft.

Meanwhile in a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute until translucent.  Add in crumbled chorizo and cook until slightly browned.  Stir in dried cranberries and parsley and season with salt & pepper to taste.  For an added zing you can also add a shake or to of red pepper flakes.  I've also chopped up kale or Swiss chard and sauteed it with the chorizo (as seen in the photo above), so this is a great way to use up some greens and sneak in some more veggies to this dish.

Stir quinoa or wild rice into the chorizo mixture and then stuff each squash half with the filling until mounded up.  Don't pack it in too tightly though.  Then place it back in the oven, uncovered for 8-10 minutes just to get a bit of browning on the top.

I served this with some baked carrot fries, which are as simple as peeling the carrot, slicing them into sticks, seasoning with garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper, tossing with olive oil and baking at 400 until they are golden brown.  Carrot fries are my jam in the Fall & Winter.  Forget sweet potato fries, carrot fries are where it's at!

Quick-Roasted Winter Vegetables

You all know by now that the best way to cook up root vegetables is to roast them, why not do them all together in a beautiful mix? This will make a great side dish for the family or arrange them by color at your winter gathering.They keep really well, so you can store them in the fridge to snack on later. 

Ingredients:
1 lb. beets (about 3 medium), ends trimmed, sliced thinly (use a mandolin if you have one)
1 lb. carrots (about 5 large), peeeled, ends trimmed, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red onions (about 3 small), peeled, ends trimmed, sliced 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick
1 lb. parsnips (about 4 large), ends trimmed, peeled, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red potatoes (3 to 4 small), scrubbed, sliced 3/16-inch thick
1-1/2 lb. sweet potatoes (2 medium), scrubbed, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 lb. turnips (about 3 small), scrubbed, ends trimmed, sliced 1/8- to 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. acorn squash, ends trimmed, cut horizontally into 1/2-inch rings (trim away seeds by running a paring knife around the inside of the rings)

For the seasoning:
2 Tbs. vegetable or olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
1 Tbs. fresh thyme, oregano, or sage (roughly chopped) or rosemary (finely chopped) 

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/quick-roasted-winter-vegetables.aspx?nterms=52350,53158,53160,53174

Southwest Stuffed Acorn Squash with Goat Cheese

So many ways to use acorn squash! Here is one that can be used as a side dish or a main course meatless dinner for our vegetarians. 

Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper,seeded and chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 1 can, 15 ounces, black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 lime, juiced
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 4 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2012/08/southwest-stuffed-acorn-squash-with-goat-cheese/