Don’t limit yourself this winter, to just a pumpkin pie and a half an acorn squashed baked with brown sugar and butter, explore the texture and taste of squash.

Winter is the time of creative squash cookery among the many other joys: long cooking stews, baking, plotting the spring garden, tending the winter garden, etc. There’s also a little bit of hibernation, true. But I look forward to the rich flavors of winter squash because they present the most challenging and most colorful of winter meals.

You’ve seen it before, the wrinkled nose at the mention of the word squash. The word itself isn’t very appetizing, no wonder it’s so maligned. When you look at a typical winter meal, it’s potatoes and meat with some frozen veggie. Ignore the wrinkled noses, get a squash, learn to work with and “cater” to… literally the bias. Fill the table with surprises.

Acorn squash comes to mind first when people think of winter squash. We see the pile of squash at the grocery store and go immediately to the most likely and easily identifiable “thing” which appears black and foreboding but at least somewhat familiar. That Acorn, when cracked open is a delightful rich amber coloured yellow inside, much like the quality of light in the late day of our Northwest autumnal evening sun.

Yes, we have sun. Shush.

What the acorn squash reveals is only the start of a journey into the richness of the winter table. I found a great recipe for corn soup on 101 Cookbooks and made a comment there about the varieties of squashes that you can substitute for acorn squash:

I can think of some other great squashes to use that aren’t so tippy as Acorn squashes. Small pumpkins hollowed out are great soup bowls. Any “cup” type squash is perfect for this: ambercup, sweet dumpling, hokkaido, red kuri, buttercup, gold nugget, and carnival, to name a few of my faves, would work great with this recipe. One could use a small kabocha like a red kuri. Any of these are gorgeous for presentation sake, and much prettier than an acorn squash (though no more delicious).

Winter squash are my absolute favorite kind of squash! You can use them in every course from appetizer to dessert.

Here’s a handy reference for how much squash, the varieties, and pictures to refer to when you go tackle the scary mound of squash at the grocery store.

One in particular seems to be the most difficult for the American palate to get their tongue around. The humble Kabocha (which means squash in Japanese) is not just difficult to figure out but hard to crack. I use a hammer and wedge. No, really. It’s hard. I’ve seen some people describe opening it by throwing it against a wall. I’d rather not put a hole in my wall, thankyouverymuch. I also prefer not to haul out the sledge hammer, but these are hefty suckers and require a little work to get into. When I was working at Whistling Train Farm in Kent, a CSA that runs year round, I was first introduced to the squash varieties and had no idea what to do with a Kabocha. Customers asked so it was my responsibility to get some answers.

One Japanese customer came to my rescue. A pastry chef, specifically catering to the Northwest’s rich Asian culture, she described for me how to crack a kabocha to start. Which, ten years ago, was not readily available information on the net and invaluable information. The customer also told me how she makes the inside squash flesh into sweets. Sweets? Well, remember the traditionally American palate is different culturally in its expectation of sweet. Kabocha can be used similarly to pumpkin. You can make pie, soup, and candy the seeds.

Wait! Candied squash seeds?

The candied pumpkin/squash seeds are nummy. First, the seeds are lightly toasted in butter. Then take them out and coat with sugar, paprika, toasted cumin, cayenne, kosher salt and a touch of honey (warmed). They have a great balance of sugar, salt and spice.

The kabocha, in its entirety, is edible. It’s close to a butternut in texture and color. As long as you give it a good scrub, slice off any “barnacles”, and remove the stem, the entire squash is edible. In fact, the skin is delicious when you cook it in a ginger water with a little brown sugar.

The winter garden yields me many a squash, kept under cloches, they continue to grow once their fruits are set. Slowly, yes but still, they grow. They also are amazing keepers in the root cellar. Buy a bunch, keep them cool, ventilated, covered and away from pests and they’ll keep for some time to draw from all winter long.

Baby Round Zucchini

Not the game, not the act… just the multitude.

It’s the time of year when I think to myself — What the heck were you thinking with the squash? This year I planted only two plants of different varieties. We liked the round ones last year (Baby Round Zucchini) and I tried these cocozelle (Italian Zucchini – Romanesco from Renee’s Garden)which are stripey and very very difficult to get off the plant without ripping off a great hunk of the vine.

But I now have five squash on my back deck.

So, last night it was veggie minestrone/stew! Yeah, I know 100 degrees and I’m makin’ stew, right? But I think it brought the cool weather faeries cause it cooled down that night enough to welcome a little warm comfort food. At the last minute I was going to throw in the kale but I forgot. My brain had melted. This is my basic recipe and you can add what you like in the way of leafy greens at the end with the squash.

Simple stuff really. Easily adaptable to Vegetarian by leaving out the meat and using veg broth.

Nummy “Minestrone”
1 cup lima beans
1 cup red beans

1-3 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot
2 – 3 cloves of fresh garlic
Handful of chopped basil & parsley
1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
3 small carrots (or one very large) diced
2 14 1/2 oz cans chopped tomatoes (preferably the italian with spices and onion)

Chicken broth 3-5 cups (depending on how much cooking water is left and how chunky or soupy you prefer the stew)
Chicken thighs, deboned and skinless
1 large zucchini, diced
Salt (I like Redmond salt)

In a separate pot, cover beans with water and bring to boil, then let lower to simmer and cook till tender. You can use the cooking broth in your soup/stew.

In a large heavy stock pan warm oil. Prep all veggies up to the carrots (I like the shallots sliced and the garlic chopped roughly). Put all five veggies into oil to “stew” a bit and become soft over medium heat for about 5-10 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for another 20 minutes on med-low, lower if it starts to stick or get too hot. Then let it all sit (covered) until about 30 minutes or so before you want to eat. You can refrigerate it at this point.

Ready to finish?

Add the beans and broth and determine how much chicken (or vegetable) stock you want thickness wise for the stew. I like a chunkier heartier “stew). Remember it will chunk up more so reserve liquid to add later to bring the consistency to your preference.

Debone the thighs and skin them. I use the meaty bones for stock so I don’t buy boneless and skinless. Chop as you like, I tend to leave them in larger pieces so they won’t dry out. Saute in oil in a large skillet. Drop the chicken into the veg pot and add the broth, turn up the heat to warm up the tomato mixture. Let it all simmer for about 10 minutes or so while you dice the zucchini. I end up with about two-three cups of zucchini, don’t be alarmed. Pop the zucchini/squash in the soup pot, stir cover and let simmer for another 10 minutes taking care to keep the squash in tact and not overly mushy.

I know… that’s only one recipe. But here’s a list of ideas for other things to do with your squash/zucchini and other abundance in the garden.

Bread
Croquettes
Stuffed with other veggies & grains
Zucchini and Tomato Fettucine
Patties

Still too much? Cut them into cubes, steam for about three minutes and freeze in freezerbags. Don’t forget to label with name and date.