The Squash Process

  

I'm just a roasting, puree-ing fool these days. Today I roasted and pureed some carnival squash, a variation of acorn squash. Carnival squash are a bit sweet and nutty tasting, and as far as I'm concerned, those are two of the best qualities any food, or any person can have. But in this instance we're interested in the squash. Carnival squash look like this:

I think you can see where they get their name... All those wonderful splotches of yellow and green. You can just tell these squash know how to have a good time.

As you can see, they vary in size, but they all taste equally delicious. There are, however, some carnival squash that are sort of the 'ugly ducklings' of the squash world. They sometimes look like this:

I think this picture says a thousand words, but rest assured that these 'ugly duckling' carnival squash will blossom into beautiful swans, just as more physically appealing carnival squash do, when they are roasted.

The great thing, for me, about the squash process is that it's almost exactly the same as the pumpkin process, which means a little less typing and a little more sleep tonight. I like sleep. As much as I love carnival squash, I like sleep more, when it's time for it, so I'll be about as brief as I know how to be.

There are, however, a few minor differences which I will address here. The first difference is the way to cut these babies. Their rind is harder than that of pumpkins, so it takes a little care and finesse. The first thing I do is slice into the rind just a bit with my big knife, to start the cut, like this:

Then, because it's kind of hard to continue cutting this way, I take out my knife and insert the tip to where I started the cut, like this:

Then I see-saw my knife around the squash to complete the cut, resulting in this:

So pretty. Looking at a cross-section like this always brings me just a little bit of joy. Those scalloped edges are just such a beautiful creation.

From this point on, just take a look at the pumpkin process to give you instruction on how to proceed. But, because I just can't help myself, I'll give you a quick overview here:

Put on a pan with skins up, just like this: 

  

Add enough water to pan so that it comes up about 1/4 inch on sides of pan.

Now here's where we've got the second difference between roasting pumpkins and these particular squash... Since these squash vary in size, the smaller squash will roast faster than the larger ones, so you've got to watch them and take out the little ones when they're tender while letting the big ones roast a bit longer. I roasted the little ones for about 40 minutes and the larger ones for about an hour.

Keep an eye on them. You'll know they're done when the pulps are soft and tender and maybe just starting to brown a smidgen on the edges, looking like this:

Scoop the squash out of the rinds and puree in a food processor until smooth.

Now you can use the puree for, well, to just eat squash (I like to add some honey to it... mmm, mmm, mmm) or to make breads or to make Roasted Squash Bisque or whatever suits your fancy.

What will suit my fancy at this point is to call it a day and slip into something a bit more comfortable... Flannel.