Photo from Wikipedia.Here's a question from the culinarily challenged part of me: How do I prepare squash??
Yesterday I bought one like the bottom one (I think it's called winter squash) and another one like the dark one to the right and above the winter squash and I'd love to cook them before they go bad. I learned to love squash in the Philippines; in fact, squash-based dishes are my favorite Filipino food, along with a good Bicol express (oh and I mustn't forget taro leaves rolled up and boiled in coconut milk, that's amazing!). But honestly, I have no idea how the Filipinos prepare the squash. Boil? Fry? Saute and then boil?
I know I can probably look the answer up on the omniscient Internet. Frankly, I prefer my (two) readers' wisdom. I hope to hear from (both of) you!
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Both the yellow and the dark one are winter squashes, the bottom one is butternut squash and the top one is an acorn squash.
I love making butternut squash soup or risotto, using purréed squash. You'll need to bake it for about half an hour to an hour (slice it in two parts first and de-seed) and then you can just scoop out the meat and purree it and add it to a cooking risotto.
What I love to do with the acorn squash is to peel it (I usually cut it into two, deseed and then into wedges and peel them), mix together fresh sage, fresh sprigs of thyme, bay leaves and olive oil put that in a ziplock with the squash and shake it baby! Then I put them in the broiler for 2x15 minutes with turning them after the first 15 min!
Do let us know what you end up cooking! Me luvs squash!
I know a couple of things to do with the yellow and green ones, of course, but not the ones you bought ;)
Erna, that butternut squash risotto sounds good, I'll definitely try that sometime (I'm a risotto freak)
I usually cut the acorn squash in half and de seed. then you drop in a couple Tablespoons of butter and a 1/4 cup of brown sugar and bake on a cookie sheet for about 1/2 hour at 350.
Butternut I make into a soup with apples.
Yellow and green summer squash is best when sliced and mixed with cumin,paprika, chili powder and bit of sugar and fried up to just a nice morsel.
You ladies rock my socks! I'll have to try out your suggestions.
Erna: At the moment I don't have a food processor but I'm negotiating an overtake of the one at Shan's place, since I know he never ever uses it, so hopefully I'll be able to do the puree soon! Me loves risotto too, Hildigunnur, so that's definitely high up on the list of priorities. What kind of risotto do you put the squash in, Erna? Also, what is a broiler??
Ali, the acorn squash with butter and brown sugar sounds just too good to be true! What do you serve it with? And the yellow and green summer squash, are those the ones that live in the NW corner of the photo?? And, um, I'm linguistically challenged here: what does "fried up to just a nice morsel" mean?
Thanks, guys!!
Summer squashes are the other 2 in your pic.
I usually serve the acorn squash with Pork chops.
Fired to a nice morsel - once you've mixed up the spice and lightly covered your pieces - put a little olive oil in a pan and heat up on MED heat. throw in the squash, cook evenly flipping to cook each side about 3-5 minutes each. Should be slightly soft with still a tender crunch left. I usually play that one by ear, I've never actually followed a recipe for it. any other ?'s go ahead and e-mail me :)
Ok, here's what I did (with half of each squash). Warning: Do NOT try this at home!!!
Sautee garlic in olive oil. Add raw diced squash, potatoes and baby carrots, pour in soy sauce and white vinegar in equal proportions, add some bay leaves and ground black pepper. Simmer uncovered until veggies are tender and sauce thickened. Serve with rice.
This was my first attempt at cooking adobo, the Filipino national dish, and it was HORRIBLE! I put way too much soy sauce and vinegar for the amount of veggies I had, so the food ended up pretty briny. Also I should have pre-cooked the potatoes b/c even if they were cut into small pieces they didn't cook through. Usually adobo is served with chicken and/or pork, but I did get it once served only with vegetables (the Filipinos are crazy about meat and will put it in anything!!) so I don't think that using veggies instead of meat was the problem. I just have to learn proportions here. Interesting, that's what it is :)
Gotta use your suggestions next, ladies!
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