It’s definitely fall: besides changing trees and pumpkin spice lattes popping up everywhere, there are tumbling towers of squash in every grocery store. From sweet little delicatata to humongous spaghetti squash and even bright shiny pumpkins, you have your pick of kind and taste.
Roasting is one of my favorite ways to prepare squash. It brings out the rich flavor and sweetness of the flesh. Plus, there is so much you can do with roasted squash!
How to Roast Squash
Preheat your oven to 375°. You can roast at 400°, which is what most recipes say, but I roast at a slightly lower temperature because it doesn’t burn quite as easily.
You can either cut the squash in half and roast it that way, or you can roast it whole. Let me tell you, unless the recipe calls for cutting the squash in half, I find it much easier to just roast it whole. Cutting thin-skinned delicata squash is easy, but something like a butternut squash or pumpkin is much more difficult and can end in several sliced fingers.
How long you roast depends on how large and/or thick-skinned the squash is. The delicata usually takes 20 minutes while a butternut can take up to 45 minutes. I set the timer for 20 minute intervals and check periodically to see how the squash are progressing, turning the squash each time I check it. The skins will get super shiny and, as they get closer to being done, a bit wrinkly. You’ll know they’re done when a fork easily sinks through the skins, like so:
After that, you can cut them open, scrape the seeds out, and scoop out the flesh with a large spoon. You can also cut the squash in half, make horizontal and vertical slices, and create cubes, like so:
From there you can cut the cubes off of the skin. It’s like cutting an avocado, mango, or watermelon, and so much easier than trying to hack through tough, uncooked squash skin.
You can also, as you see above, cut open the squash and sprinkled salt, pepper, and olive oil over the sides:
Just roast until the flesh is as soft as you’d like!
What to Do with Roasted Squash
There are so many things you can do with roasted squash! You can make:
- A puree that is perfect by itself or
- Baked into something
- Stirred into oatmeal
- Used in baking to
- Mashed “potatoes”, either savory or sweet
- Roasted squash (see Monday’s blog!)
- Baby food
You can also just eat it as-is! Squash also freezes beautifully in an air-tight container for 4 to 6 months.
On Monday, I’m expanding on this Friday Bits blog to bring you a delicious recipe for butternut squash, so don’t forget to check back. Better yet, sign up to receive notification of new posts (check the box when you leave a comment!).