thoughtful consumption

We love kabocha squash! It’s now our favorite winter squash now even though we’re mighty fond of butternut and acorn. (Of course, it terms of specific squash, these two guys are still my favorite.)

Preparation

I’m still not at the stage where I do anything fancy with it. I just bake it in the oven for a couple of hours and then dress it up with butter and a touch of maple syrup. Simple and delicious. Here’s a basic recipe for baking winter squash.

Here’s our squash after the baking.

(NB: if you put a whole squash on the top rack of the oven and the stem comes in contact with the element, the stem will light and your house will smell like pot.)

At this point, the squash slices easily.

I scoop out the seeds and put them in a colander. The flesh goes back in the oven along with a couple of pats of butter and teaspoon or two of maple syrup.

The seeds get rinsed in the colander with warm water and then dried on the counter for a couple of days. Once they’re dry, I toss then in olive oil and salt and roast them. These seeds are not my favorite, however. They’re big and thick, so the ratio of salt to seed is smaller than with roasted butternut or pumpkin seeds.)

Plates!

Here are two of the meals that included squash.

Finally, a  note to the farmers: Please plant more kabocha for next fall. Thank you.