Stuffed With Squash: Sweet Pumpkin

by sarah.kanabay, October 27, 2011 | Permalink

A squash that really needs no introduction, the Sweet Pumpkin is the fall favorite that most people are familiar with when they think of festive eating and falling leaves. From its supernatural turn in the classic Halloween tale of the headless horseman to Cinderella’s famous pumpkin carriage, this squash looms large in the literary landscape as well as in our kitchens. What you might not know is that, as delicious as pumpkin is, it’s also great for your skin! Rich in antioxidants, companies like MyChelle Dermaceuticals (one of our featured lines of products here at Whole Foods Market, in our Whole Body department) are capitalizing on pumpkin’s vitamin-rich orange goodness and adding this Thanksgiving perennial to all kinds of facial products. We’re a fan of MyChelle’s Pumpkin Renew Cream in particular, but, if you’re game to try something a little more hands-on, give this DIY pumpkin face mask a go!

Pumpkin Face Mask

2 tsp canned pureed pumpkin
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp heavy whipping cream
Mix all ingredients and apply to face. Leave on for 10 min and rinse!

Stuffed With Squash: Kabocha

by sarah.kanabay, October 25, 2011 | Permalink

You might not associate squash with romance, but, in some cultures, this particular winter squash is believed to possess aphrodisiac properties. Commonly called Japanese Pumpkin, this Japanese squash has a sweet, chestnut-like flavor and a moist, fluffy flesh, and is commonly seen in preparations of vegetable tempura. It also makes an excellent soup, and is a tasty substitute for pumpkin in a pie—in Thailand, it’s common to see Kabocha playing on both the sweet and savory sides of menus, as a dessert and as a main course.

If you’re planning on growing Kabocha, or, want to make sure that you’re getting a sweet one, check out these words on the ripening of the squash from Wikipedia:

“When kabocha is just harvested, it is still growing. Therefore, unlike other vegetables and fruits, freshness is not as important. It should be fully matured first, in order to become flavorful. First, kabocha is ripened in a warm place (77 °F) for 13 days, during which some of the starch converts to sugar content. Then it is transferred to a cool place (50 °F) and stored for about a month in order to increase its carbohydrate content. In this way the just-harvested, dry, bland-tasting kabocha is transformed into smooth, sweet kabocha. Fully ripened, succulent kabocha will have reddish-yellow flesh and a hard skin with a dry, corky stem. It reaches the peak of ripeness about 1.5–3 months after it is harvested.”

Beer Battered Kabocha Squash

Canola oil (enough to fill a deep pot with 3” oil)
1 5- or 6-pound kabocha squash (about the diameter of a soccer ball), halved and seeded
1 to 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 12-ounce beer (still cold)
Sriracha sauce (optional)

Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pot fitted with a frying thermometer over medium heat until the oil reaches 325 degrees.

Slice the kabocha squash into half moons just under 1/2” thick—any thicker, and the squash won’t cook enough before the batter gets nice and brown. Cut each piece in half again and set aside. Line a sheet pan with parchment or paper towels and set aside.

Whisk the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder until blended in a large mixing bowl. (For a lighter, more tempura-like crust, use 1 cup flour, or use more flour for a thicker, slightly chewier crust.) When the oil has reached 325 degrees, whisk the beer into the dry ingredients, stirring just until the flour is incorporated. Add a dash (or a glug) of Sriracha sauce, if desired, and mix in.

Working with a few pieces of squash at a time, dip the squash into the batter. Let any excess batter drip back into the bowl, and carefully transfer the squash pieces to the hot oil. Fry for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, or until the batter is golden brown and the skin of the squash begins to turn from green to brown. (If you made your batter nice and thick, you’ll need to turn the squash pieces over halfway through frying.) Use a slotted spoon or mesh ladle to transfer the squash to the paper towels, and repeat with the remaining squash, keeping an eye on the oil temperature and adjusting the heat as necessary. Serve hot, salting immediately if desired.

Stuffed With Squash: Spaghetti

by sarah.kanabay, October 19, 2011 | Permalink

Spaghetti is what spaghetti does—at least, when it comes to spaghetti squash! When cooked, this squash’s flesh separates easily into long, noodle-like strands, which has long made it a favorite of people seeking a pasta-esque experience that doesn’t include wheat/grains. As an added bonus, substituting spaghetti squash for the durum semolina version means that you’ll be increasing your intake of folic acid, potassium, vitamin A, and beta carotene. You can either roast or steam spaghetti squash the way you would any of the other squashes we’ve chronicled, scraping the cooked flesh out of the halves of the squash with a fork to separate it into strands afterwards. After that, the sky’s the limit when it comes to toppings—what’s your favorite way to make pasta? Try it with squash instead! I’m particularly fond of anything that picks up on the slight nuttiness of the squash’s flesh—pesto is a great pairing, or, the Spanish classic, Romesco. (If you’re using a tomato-based sauce, we recommend not adding it immediately to the cooked squash strands—you’ll end up with a mushy mess. Let it cool for at least ten minutes first, or, sauce the plates or bowls first, and pile the squash on top, and mix from the bottom up).

Simple Spaghetti Squash Sautee

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Halve a spaghetti squash, scooping out the seeds.
Roast squash according to method described here for about an hour, or until you can pierce the flesh easily with a knife. (Check at the half hour)
Cool the squash for 20 minutes, and then use a fork to scrape the flesh into long strands (the flesh should still have a bit of a bite to it—you don’t want it too mushy!)
Heat olive oil or butter in a large, heavy skillet, to which you’ll add:
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 cup of roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
1 handful roughly chopped fresh oregano
When the garlic has softened and is fragrant, add the squash strands, and cook for five minutes, tossing to coat. Remove from heat, and grate good parmesan over the squash, and serve immediately.

Stuffed With Squash: Acorn

by sarah.kanabay, October 18, 2011 | Permalink

Easy to grow, easy to love, the Acorn squash is shaped like its namesake oak nut, and has a dark green skin that contains a golden-yellow flesh. It’s also called the pepper squash, or the Des Moines squash, depending on where you hail from, but, no matter its name, it’s a great squash for baking and stuffing. (We don’t suggest attempting to peel this squash prior to cooking, as its deep ribs make skin removal quite tricky—simply scoop the cooked flesh out of the roasted and cleaned halves instead—though the skin on this one is edible!) If you’re growing your own Acorns this year, be sure to cure your squash for a week to ten days after picking in a warm, dry place. You can use our tried and true roasting method (previously chronicled here), or try this sophisticated strudel for a new take on a classic fall favorite.

Acorn Squash and Roasted Garlic Strudel

makes 3 strudels, or 18-24 slices
1 head garlic, roasted
2 small acorn squash
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1 cup whole milk ricotta
1/3 cup pinenuts, toasted
1/2 package (about 30 sheets) of frozen phyllo dough, defrosted
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons olive oil

Split the acorn squash in half, scoop out the strings and seeds, and put the halves in a glass baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and pepper, then either bake in a 350°F oven for about 50 minutes, or in a microwave for about 20 minutes, until the flesh is very soft and can be removed from the skin with a fork.

Scrape the acorn squash out of its skin and mash very well with a fork. Squeeze the garlic out of out of the cloves and mash with a fork. Put the garlic in a large frying pan over medium heat and add the sage leaves. Fry until fragrant, then add the acorn squash and cook until squash is warmed through. Set aside until slightly cooled.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked squash and garlic with the nutmeg, ricotta, and pinenuts. Stir well and taste. Add more salt and pepper if it needs it.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Melt the butter in a small bowl and add the olive oil. On a large piece of wax paper, lay out your first sheet of phyllo dough. Brush it with the butter, then stack another sheet on top. Repeat until you have about 10 layers. (You can use less than this; I just like to make mine a little thicker.) Spread about a third of the squash mixture over the sheet of phyllo, leaving an inch of room at the edges, then roll up from the long side, tucking the ends in. Pick up the wax paper and carefully roll the strudel off the paper and on to a large baking sheet.

Repeat to make two more strudels. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden and crispy. Cut into slice and serve right away. Or, if these have to wait a little, you can recrisp them in the oven at 400°F.

-recipe by Faith Durand

Stuffed With Squash: Butternut

by sarah.kanabay, October 17, 2011 | Permalink

What else can we say? Butternut reigns supreme in the world of winter squashes. You might even say that it’s queen of the squash prom. The squash most of us are familiar with as the harbinger of the fall feast season, butternut squash (or Cucurbita moschata) is a long, peach-toned squash with one bulbous end whose flesh grows deep orange as it ripens. Sweet, nutty, and great for roasting, it’s also popular in risotto, ravioli, and bisque preparations. The rind is inedible, and should be discarded post-roasting, or, prior to cutting the squash into smaller chunks for other uses. Looking for something outside of the usual realm of Butternut cookery? Try this recipe from British chef Jamie Oliver for Butternut Squash Muffins With a Frosty Top!
(from jamieoliver.com)

Ingredients:

14 ounces butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped

2¼ cups light soft brown sugar

4 large free-range or organic eggs

sea salt

2½ cups flour, unsifted

2 heaped teaspoons baking powder

a handful of walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

for the frosted cream topping:

zest of 1 clementine

zest of 1 lemon and

juice of ½ a lemon

½ cup sour cream

2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar, sifted

optional: lavender flowers or rose petals

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your muffin tins with paper cups.

Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing – you want to just combine everything and no more.

Fill the paper cups with the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the cakes – if it comes out clean, they’re done. If it’s a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and have a think about it – adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your cakes have cooled down, then spoon the topping onto the cakes.

Stuffed With Squash: Delicata

by sarah.kanabay, October 14, 2011 | Permalink

Think of Delicata squash as the Indian Summer cousin of the summer squash family—while it’s considered a winter squash, it’s actually from the same species as pattypans, zucchinis, and yellow crooknecks.

Also called the Peanut or Bohemian squash, this long lean member of the Cucurbita pepo clan is marked with distinctive longitudinal stripes and a sweet, orange/yellow interior. If you’re growing them yourself (and many people are—they’re one of the easiest varieties to grow!) you’ll need to allow the picked squash to ‘cure’ for at least a week in a warm, dry place before you cook with it. Once you’re ready to cook, Delicata lends itself well to baking and roasting, but can also be steamed and sautéed. It’s not as high in beta-carotene as other winter squashes (the general rule is, the deeper the orange hue of the flesh, the greater the amount of beta-carotene in the squash), but, it’s still a great source of fiber and potassium. In addition to these benefits, like those of its pumpkin cousin, the seeds are also great for toasting and subsequent snacking (or, try them as a crispy, toasted topper for fall soups, in place of croutons). Try Delicata with flavors outside of the usual fall playbook with this recipe below:
(from allrecipes.com)

Baked Delicata Squash With Lime Butter

Ingredients

2 delicata squash, halved and seeded

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon lime zest (optional)

salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the squash cut side down into a baking dish. Pour water into the dish to about 1/4 inch deep.

Bake in preheated oven until the squash pierces easily with a fork, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, blend the butter with the lime juice and chili powder in a small bowl. Mix in the lime zest, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the butter mixture into the cooked squash, and serve immediately.

Stuffed With Squash: Sweet Dumpling

by sarah.kanabay, October 13, 2011 | Permalink

Squat and chubby with a striped exterior, the Sweet Dumpling is one aptly named member of the winter squash family, with a deep golden, creamy interior and surprisingly sweet edible skin. You can prepare it simply, according to our previously mentioned simple roasting method (here), or, you can up your winter protein consumption with this recipe for Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash from thekitchn.com. Either way, you’re in for quite the treat! (This squash’s petite size makes meal planning easy as well—one squash per person, for grownup appetites, and half of a squash for smaller or less hungry folk).

3 sweet dumpling squashes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

8 dates, coarsely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup cooked quinoa

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. (The seeds can be roasted like pumpkin seeds.)

Place squash face-down in an oiled baking dish. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Remove squash from oven but keep oven on.

Prepare the stuffing while the squash is baking. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until onion is translucent. Add pistachios, dates, lemon zest, and cinnamon and sauté for another minute. Stir in the cooked quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Turn the squash upright in the baking dish and stuff with the quinoa mixture.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve warm, garnished with extra pistachios or lemon zest, if desired. The peel of sweet dumpling squash is generally tender enough to be eaten.

Stuffed With Squash: Buttercup

by sarah.kanabay, October 12, 2011 | Permalink

Buttercup, buttercup, oh butter buttercup….buttercup! Squash, that is!
Part of the squash group known as ‘turban squashes’ thanks to their hat-like shapes, the Buttercup squash has a sweet deep orange flesh rich in Vitamin A that lends itself well to steaming or roasting (the flesh of this squash can tend to be a bit dry when cooked, so ‘wetter’ cooking methods, like steaming or braising, are good ones to go for with this quash). The rind is inedible, and characterized by silver streaking. While you can use this squash as a substitute for the Carnival recipes we posted earlier, (its flavor profile is similar to the sweet potato too!), another great way to get more squash into your diet is to try the savory side of baking with squash puree, in the form of this hearty bread.
(Recipe by Mary Merchant—original recipe text found here):

Original Recipe Yield 1 9-inch loaf

Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F to 115 degrees F)

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 cup mashed, cooked butternut squash

3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add molasses, salt, caraway, squash, and 2 cups flour; mix well. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down; turn onto a floured surface and shape into a loaf. Place in a greased 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.

Stuffed With Squash: It’s A Carnival!

by sarah.kanabay, October 11, 2011 | Permalink

If you’re stumped by a lack of ideas for dinner, not cooking for a crowd, and just can’t face another steamed sweet potato, we have the squash for you: the diminutive, colorful Carnival!

Rich in vitamins A and C, bursting with beta-carotene, and packed with other important nutrients like calcium and iron, the Carnival squash has a nutty, sweet taste that’s similar to the Butternut squash, and a flavor profile that’s akin to the sweet potato. They are hard-skinned and can be difficult to peel, so, it’s best to halve, scoop out the seeds, and roast these prior to scooping the flesh out to use in other recipes (or, you can simply enjoy the roasted squash as-is, with a dab of butter or a splash of nutty walnut oil). My favorite roasting technique, for those who missed our previous articles in this series, (find them here and here), is to halve and de-seed the squash, and place them face-down on a sheet pan in a pre-heated 400 degree oven. Once the pan is in the oven, carefully pour water onto the surface of the pan until it’s ¼ of an inch deep all around the squash. Roast until just tender, then flip the halves upright, and brush with butter (or coconut oil, if you’re avoiding dairy) and cook for another ten minutes, or until surface has caramelized.

Need more ideas? Here are some helpful links to delicious squash recipes:

Baked Carnival Squash With Bacon and Rosemary

Braised Carnival Squash

Carnival Squash Bisque

Carnival Squash/Roasted Garlic Ravioli

Stuffed With Squash: Red Kuri

by sarah.kanabay, October 8, 2011 | Permalink

(part 2 in a series. see the first post here)

Another member of the mighty Cucurbita maxima family, the Red Kuri squash is a slightly Hershey’s Kiss-shaped thick-skinned orange squash that looks somewhat like a rogue pumpkin. Its flesh is deeply orange, fragrant, an intensely sweet, and loves to be paired with butter and herbs, making it a great substitute for Butternut squash in sweeter applications (soups, risottos, and even pie!). Its slightly nutty flavor also plays nicely in quickbread, muffin, and pancake recipes where you might be tempted to use pumpkin instead. Its seed cavity also happens to be the perfect shape for stuffing, which leads me to this decadent fall feast recipe, written by the charming Dorie Greenspan:

The Pumpkin (or Kuri Squash!) Stuffed With Everything Good:
(from epicurious.com)

Ingredients:

1 large (3 lb.) Red Kuri squash

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyère, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped

4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped (my addition)

About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions (my addition)

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme (my addition)

About 1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that’s just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you’ll have to serve it from the pot—which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn’t so easy. However, since I love the way the unencumbered pumpkin looks in the center of the table, I’ve always taken my chances with the baked-on-a-sheet method, and so far, I’ve been lucky.

Using a very sturdy knife—and caution—cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween Jack-o-Lantern). It’s easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot.

Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper—you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure—and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled—you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little—you don’t want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (It’s hard to go wrong here.)

Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours—check after 90 minutes—or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.

When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully—it’s heavy, hot, and wobbly—bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you’ll bring to the table.

Serving

You have a choice—you can either spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful, or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I’m a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls, it’s just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.

Storing

It’s really best to eat this as soon as it’s ready. However, if you’ve got leftovers, you can scoop them out of the pumpkin, mix them up, cover, and chill them; reheat them the next day.

Bonne Idée

There are many ways to vary this arts-and-crafts project. Instead of bread, I’ve filled the pumpkin with cooked rice—when it’s baked, it’s almost risotto-like. And, with either bread or rice, on different occasions I’ve added cooked spinach, kale, chard, or peas (the peas came straight from the freezer). I’ve made it without bacon (a wonderful vegetarian dish), and I’ve also made it and loved, loved, loved it with cooked sausage meat; cubes of ham are also a good idea. Nuts are a great addition, as are chunks of apple or pear or pieces of chestnut.

(–Dorie Greenspan)

Stuffed With Squash: Hubbard

by sarah.kanabay, October 7, 2011 | Permalink

It happens every day—you get carried away with a new shape, a bright color, an interesting name, and before you know it, you’ve arrived back in your home kitchen with a knobbly stranger of a squash and no idea how to cook it. Fear not, brave shopper—we’re here to help!

Let’s start with the Hubbard:

Hubbard squash, a member of the Cucurbita maxima family, is a blue, teardrop-shaped behemoth that can be used in a number of applications as a replacement for pumpkins. Named, according to one story at least, for Elizabeth Hubbard who first brought the squash to the attention of her seed-merchant neighbor, Hubbard squash is described as a “starchy, dry, thick, flaky, floury, melting, nutty and fine-textured winter squash…..with brilliant orange flesh” in The Compleat Squash by Amy Goodman.

Cooking Suggestions:
First, you have to get that sucker open! Experts assert that the best way to do this is to simply place the whole squash inside of a brown paper bag, and drop it onto the ground until it splits. Once you’ve cracked it, you might have to break it into subsequent smaller pieces to cook. You can start out simply by brushing the cleaned halves with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasting the squash in a pan filled with about ¼ inch of water (I like to put the squash ‘face-down’ on a sheetpan first, and then pour a little water into the pan once it’s in the oven) in a 350 degree oven until tender. (To brown/caramelize the surface, flip the squash pieces right side up towards the end of the cooking time, and either brush with more oil or dot with butter). Scoop the flesh out of the skin with a fork or a spoon and enjoy!

For something a little less rustic, you can also make a delicious maple-pecan Hubbard squash mash, by scooping the cooked squash flesh out of the skin, and adding ¼ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup heavy cream, and a few tbs. of butter to the squash before mashing it into smoothness with a potato masher. (You could also make this a puree by blending it in the food processor, or, put the squash through a potato ricer for a finer, fluffier texture, before adding the additional ingredients). Top with toasted pecans, and you’ve got yourself a sweet side dish for any fall gathering!

For more ideas, visit the recipe section of the Whole Foods Market website, and search for ‘Butternut squash’—Hubbard’s a great, less-sweet substitute in a lot of these recipes!