Whether it be acorn, butternut, carnival, dumpling or spaghetti, winter squash is stick-to-the-ribs food. With the mercury hovering around 0 this morning, that, along with some sweetness and spice, is just what we needed.
serves 2
INgredients
1 acorn squash
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
Process Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the acorn squash in half, horizontally. Remove the seeds from each half by scooping them out with a spoon.
Drizzle a half Tablespoon of maple syrup into the cavity and around the outer edges of each half.
Place the two halves into a baking dish and bake in the oven at 400°F for about 20 minutes, or until a fork slides easily into the squash’s flesh. A sweet smell will permeate the kitchen. While squash is baking dry roast the pine nuts in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet, using cooking chopsticks to continually turn the nuts so they get cooked on all sides. Nuts are done when they begin to sweat and turn a soft golden brown. This should take about 4 minutes. Remove squash from oven. You can serve it as is, with a hot pool of maple syrup in the cavity or you can add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to each squash half and use a fork to mash up the flesh, leaving it inside the skin.
Garnish with a few pine nuts,
place each half in an individual bowl and serve.
©Nancy Wolfson-Moche 2014
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