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Ingredient – Winter Squash

assorted winter squash

pink banana

squash salad: raw, marinated and fried, some greens, cheese and pickled day lily buds, cider crinkleroot vinaigrette

It might seem late for squash to be a source of inspiration, but not really.. You see, now that winter is here and nothing fresh and local is coming in at all, I have no choice to look to the piles of winter squash and roots from the last harvests waiting to be transformed. Because our winter is so long, I often wait to the last minute to start my long affair with the stuff that keeps. When the squash first come out, there is still plenty of other stuff around, so I’ll use them a little, but save the royal treatment for when they can be the star. Once the squash is knocked off, the roots will get their turn at being the center of attention veg wise, and by the end of winter I will be quite tired of both, yearning for crisp and green. Let’s forget about that for now..

Over the past month, I’ve made slaw, salad, mash, polenta, latkes, soups and several desserts with a variety of winter squash. Here are some simple examples with guidelines:

Squash slaw : Raw, marinated butternut squash (or acorn or pink banana) in a salad:

Julienne the squash and toss it with a pinch of salt, of sugar, a good cider or white wine vinegar, and a shot of olive oil and or nut oil. Serve it in a salad with almonds and herbs, or as an accompaniment. .

Spaghetti squash comme ça

Slice in two, seed, cover and microwave for 10 min. Scrape the ‘spaghetti’ off with a fork. Sauté in butter and garlic, a few chilli flakes. Or add a touch of cream and grated cheese and cook as a gratin..

Pancake, latke or roesti: Buttercup, Pink Banana or something starchy works best.

You could actually use any squash, but with a watery one, you would need to add potato or more flour. With a starchy variety like this, you get the full squash flavour and no gumminess. Grate it, mix it with a handful of flour, a pinch of salt and spice (I like curry and chili), some grated onion (squeezed dry) or minced shallot and a scant pinch of baking powder. Add a few beaten eggs just to bind. Drop into a hot pan with oil and sear on both sides cooking it like a pancake. Finish in oven if necessary. Serve as an accompaniment or as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre topped with something like sour cream and smoked salmon or chutney and yogurt.

buttercup polenta, sautéed spaghetti squash

marinated pink banana

Fried pink banana

Soup: Use Hubbard or any combination of winter squash

Halve or cut into big pieces, seed and roast the squash in an oven at 400F until tender. Meanwhile, sweat a mirepoix (chopped onion, carrot, celery, leek if you want) in a little butter or oil. Add some garlic, some ginger, a pinch of chilli. Deglaze with a splash of white wine, cider, cider vinegar or sherry vinegar. Scoop out the squash meat and add, along with poultry stock (and/or water) to cover, but barely. Cook for another 20-30 min. Blend. Add a little cream or milk or water to rectify the consistency. Add salt and pepper, a spoonful of honey or more likely a squeeze of lemon to taste. Strain if you’re feeling fancy.

Purée : A starchy one is best, otherwise, add some mashed potato.

Roast in the oven, scoop out the flesh and pureé in a food processor (or pass through a food mill), adding a good measure of butter, maybe a splash of stock or milk or cream (not usually necessary especially if you have a squash with some water content). Season to taste (salt, a squeeze of lemon, a shot of Sambal or Tabasco ).

Fried: The starchiest ones again are best. If it’s too sweet, it will burn. You can always give them a water rinse or soak (but dry well) if you want to cook as fries. Squash is great in pakora, tempura works well too, but you can also just coat in flour and/or cornstarch and fry at a lower than usual temperature (275- 300F ). Too high a temperature and they will darken too much (and lose their sweetness), too low and they won’t be crisp. You also have to be able to leave them in long enough in order for them to crisp up.

Dessert : A firm, sweet one works in a dessert where you use them as you would fruit, as in a pie filling or crumble. The softer ones are best used puréed as in pumpkin pie, in compotes, or flan mixtures. Flavour wise, squash or pumpkin pairs well with apple, pear and spice.

My colleague, Isabelle brought in an apple-squash crisp as a staff treat, and I was then inspired to make a chausson. Either way, you want a squash that you can cut up raw, that cooks up well and somewhat retains its structure. Butternut works well. Almost any squash will work, you just may need to add a tablespoon or two of flour to the mix. You just add the diced squash to your apple mixture. At least that’s what I would do at home. But at the restaurant, you want everything to be cooked just so, so I sautéed the apples and squash cubes separately to make sure they were both cooked properly. I was looking for something aldente because the chaussons would finish in the oven. I added butter, sugar, honey, lemon, spices like cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger among some other wild things, some almond powder to bind (a good pinch of flour would have been fine too) and stuffed my phyllo pastry, cooked it at 400F for the first 10 min. and another 20min at a lower temperature. You could also just top the mixture with crisp topping or biscuit dough for a cobbler type thing.

I’m sure it would make a good ice cream too (in purée form), as it certainly makes good crème brulée, mousse and pannacotta.