It’s the time of the year for acorn squash and this particular food type is everyone’s favourite in the fall. If you haven’t tried this type of autumn squash before than you really need to grab yourself some because we are going to show you a number of ways you can eat them. The squash is sweet but also offers a nutty taste to it and can be thrown into a range of dishes because of its versatility.
Whether you are a pasta lover or a pie lover the acorn squash shouldn’t be overlooked this fall, as it will provide you and your family with a heart-warming dinner time dish that you will want to eat over and over again as the cold weather sets in.
Let’s start with looking at how acorn squash can be used as part of a pie dish. One of the things you will realise when reading todays article is that acorn squash can be adapted into both main courses as well as desserts.
Firstly we want to get the oven preheated like always, so knock the temperature up to around 425F, and then while that begins to increase to its optimal heat setting we want to prepare the baking tray, by just adding some butter to it so that the squash doesn’t stick to the bottom of the tray making it hard to remove.
Slice the acorns in halve and then line them up on the baking tray or baking sheet and cook them in the oven for around 20 minutes until they soften up, you can then remove them from the oven and scrape out the squash with a spoon.
Now you can begin to bring in other ingredients and acorn squash goes very well with honey so mix together salt, cinnamon, ginger, half a cup of milk, some honey and 4 large eggs. Its best to use a blender at this stage to make sure that you are thoroughly combining all the ingredients together as this will make the inner filling of the pie.
The next step is to create your pie casing; you can either do this yourself or simply buy a premade one. Scoop into the middle of the pie your filling and then take the pies back to the oven and cook for about 40 minutes, the first 10 minutes you want to set the oven to 350F and then for the final 30 back to 425F.
Pasta is as versatile as food comes as you can add anything to pasta including acorn squash. You can cook the squash in the same way as the recipe above, but instead of mashing together the squash you want to keep them in large chunks so they combine well with the pasta.
Add some pasta to a large saucepan of boiling water and then cook for 20 minutes until they are soft but firm still. If you are feeling creative you can also sauté some pancetta so the meat is crispy and this can be added to the dish to create extra colours and textures.
Once the pasta has cooked and the pancetta has finished off combine the acorn squash, pancetta and pasta into a large bowl. Now we can add some freshly chopped rosemary and parmesan cheese to finish the dish off.
What do you get when you combine acorn squash and soup? The best autumn dish you can think of that’s what! To make this dish it really is simple and we can tell you how in just two sentences. Firstly cook the acorn squash in the same way as the pie dish at the top and then make sure the squash is mashed up. You want to achieve a puree here, that’s what you are looking for.
You can then add about half a pound of kale, and 4 strips of bacon as ingredients to the dish which will make for a tasty soup. All you need to do is cook the bacon in a saucepan for 5 minutes until it is crisp, and then cook the kale for 3 minutes in a saucepan until it is soft. Add the squash puree to the bacon and kale, then tip in 3 cups of water and bring everything to the boil.
To add extra taste once the soup is cooked you can sprinkle some salt and pepper into the soup, and if you are cooking this for guests it’s advisable to leave some bacon left over so you can garnish the top of each soup bowl with it. This will just add a touch of class when it comes to presentation and something that your guests will enjoy to see.
Any leftover squash puree can also be added to containers and frozen for another time you want to make soup.