Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
Today, I’m sharing a new recipe for maple-glazed kabocha squash.
But first, a story about squash and ill-mannered dinner guests. Or perhaps I should call it a cautionary tale…I’ll let you be the judge 😉
There are dinner guests, and then there are dinner guests.
Mr. Stone Soup and I have thrown some legendary dinner parties. The Pandemic put an end to them rather abruptly, but back in the day, our annual pre-Thanksgiving party was quite a beloved and well-anticipated tradition, with a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for up to 25.
There was a core group of people who always attended, and then there were a few folks who floated in and out. And in a couple of cases, there were “one-and-done” guests, as was the case with a former boss of mine, who, when dinner was served looked at the array of foods, which included squash, declared that he “did not consider squash to be a food.” He turned his nose up at the squash and didn’t eat a bite of it. His loss. And in spite of broadly dropping hints for a repeat invitation, I never saw fit to invite him back to another dinner party, which was a shame because we really missed his lovely wife at future gatherings. But I digress.
This time of year, the market is full of sturdy squash of all kinds–butternut, acorn, pumpkin and spaghetti, to name a few. The one I’m featuring today is the kabocha squash, which is rather new to me, although it’s been out there for many years.
Kabocha squash comes in several different colors, including green, orange and yellow. I chose a gorgeous orange one for my recipe for maple-glazed kabocha squash:
They are full of good things for your body like vitamins A, C and K. They are also a good source of fiber, owing not in small part to the fact that the skin of the kabocha is fully edible. They also contain a good amount of potassium, magnesium and anti-oxidants such as beta carotene and lutein.
The squash itself is pretty sturdy and I had to take my 9″ chef knife to it to cut it open. Once cut in half, I dug the seeds out and then it was pretty easy to slice into little half moon slices:
For this recipe, I seasoned them with a fair amount of salt, a sprinkling of cinnamon, a drizzle of pecan oil and maple syrup. Then I popped them into a 400* oven for about 30 minutes, until they were tender and–wow! They were delicious and really, super-easy to put together. This makes a great side dish in place of a starch–it sorta acts like one, but is classified as low-glycemic. Now, of course I added a drizzle of maple syrup, which is really good, but that could be left out if you’re watching your carbs and sugar intake. Also, it’s a super-photogenic side dish that just screams fall!
Enjoy as a side with almost any protein–I served it with a chicken breast and some wilted spinach:
Join me tomorrow for another edition of “What’s Cooking in Keri’s California Kitchen.”
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
