Friends of mine have given me a few of their extra CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes this fall, and each box came with a number of winter squash. I didn't know what to do with them when they arrived, so I stacked them up near the fireplace because they looked pretty. I'm wondering how long they're going to last as decorations and whether (and how) one would go about preparing and eating them.

Thanks,

A CSA box recipient, Sunnyvale.

Dear CSA box recipient,

Don't despair!  Winter squash has an absolutely wonderful taste, is quite easy to make, and can be used in a number of different ways, including as decoration near your fireplace.  I was well into my 20's before I started gardening and found out that winter squash grows in the summer.  That was a surprise! It turns out that winter squash grows in the summer and can be stored throughout the winter. That's why it's called "winter" squash.  Pretty cool if you think about it.  You don't have to put winter squash in cold storage; rather, you can put it in your garage, your house, in front of your fireplace etc. and as long as it has no nicks and the stem area looks OK, it will last for many months.

If you're confused about which kind of squash to get, I'd suggest getting a different kind each time you go shopping J It's great to experiment.  I have a great coffee table book called The Compleat Squash.  It has nice pictures of all different kinds of squash, the families they belong to, and other information, including recipes.  You can also look through seed catalogs to get descriptions. The different varieties of winter squash do have different flavors.  Delicata and Sweet Dumplings are very sweet (for squash) and tender.  Butternut is the best all-around good-for-everything squash. You can use it for soups, stews, pies, or just eat it with some butter.  Kabocha has a great flavor and is big enough to stuff.  Buttercup has nice flavor and is good for stuffing, soups, and stews. Red kuri has an interesting flavor.  Acorn squash is just OK (compared to the flavors of all the other squashes), but is great for an individual serving.  Sugar pie is great for pies. And, then, of course, there are all the varieties you can use for growing giant jack-o-lantern pumpkins — which you really don't want to eat because they are bred for their size, not their taste.  The Cinderella pumpkin is an exception.  It is a large, good tasting pumpkin, however, it looks like Cinderella's carriage, not a jack-o-lantern.

As far as cooking the squash, here's the trick  You need a good, sharp, butcher's knife if you're going to cut it while its raw.  If you don't have a good knife, don't bother  You'll get frustrated and end up cutting yourself, or you'll lodge the knife in the pumpkin and wont be able to get it out.  Even if you do have a good knife, the absolute easiest way to cook winter squash is to prick it (use a sharp knife to make a bunch of slits like you would in a baked potato), put it on a cookie sheet and bake it in a 350ºF oven for 1 hour (less for small squashes, more for larger squashes).  It's done when you can easily put a knife into it.

At this point, the trick is to let the squash cool a little bit before you start to take it apart. Otherwise, your fingers won't be too happy as they get burned on the squash.  You can even cook the squash the night before you want to use it, let it cool off in the oven, and then get back to it the next day.  How easy is that?  When you take the squash apart, be sure to remove the seeds and the strings.  The seeds make a great snack.  Try taking off the slimy parts surrounding the squash seeds, put the seeds on a cookie sheet, sprinkle some salt, and roast at 350ºF for 20 minutes, more or less.

After you have baked the squash, you can easily make it into soup by sauteing some onions and garlic, adding some ginger if you like ginger; and then adding the cut up cooked squash and some water or stock not quite to cover.  Bring it to a boil, and simmer 30 minutes.  Use an immersible blender to blend the soup.  (Immersible blenders are the best tool in the kitchen to make blended soups!!!)  If you need more liquid, add soymilk or regular milk.  Add other herbs like fresh parsley if available.

Or, you can just cut up the squash, put some butter (and maybe brown sugar) on it, and serve it.  Or, you can make a yummy stew with cut up squash cubes.

If you're in a hurry and you don't want to bake the squash, you can steam it.  To steam the squash, peel the squash with a sharp knife (you really need a good quality butcher's knife for this), remove all of the seeds, cut up into cubes, and then steam for 20 minutes, pretty quick.  It's done when it's soft and a knife easily moves through a piece.

The quickest thing you can do with a squash to make a fast and festive dish is to take a sweet dumpling or acorn squash, cut it in half, remove the seeds, and steam it cut side down with some dried apricots or peaches in the steamer.  After 20 minutes, remove the dried fruit, cut it up into pieces, and place it in a bowl with some raisins, a teeny bit of water, and some apricot preserves.  Turn the squash cut side up in the steamer and place the fruit mixture into the squash cavities.  Steam for another 5 - 10 minutes and serve. Tastes great & looks festive.

As for pie making, you'll want to use a butternut or a sugar pie  I'm sure that there are others, but I know that these will work.  Bake these in the oven as described above and use the flesh in a pie or other baked goods like cookies, muffins, cakes, etc.

Just remember, squash is easy to make with a sharp knife and an immersible blender!  And, you don't even need the sharp knife if you roast the squash first.

I won't get into other uses of squash such as squash tacos/burritos, squash pasta, pumpkin ravioli, etc.  Really, you can use the cut up baked or steamed squash as an ingredient in most any dish you're making.  Be adventurous!

That's it for now. Rescue your squash from the fireplace and have at it!

Surrounded by squash,

B.

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