Speak Boylese

One of the beauties of squash is that it comes in many varieties, and their applications range from desserts to soups to porch decorations. I’ve already posted about my undying love for pumpkin pie – many people don’t realize it, but pumpkins are in fact squashes.From a botanical standpoint, squashes are pretty fascinating. Although we often use them in the kitchen as a vegetable, they are in fact fruits. Squash comes from plants in the genus Cucurbita. Did you know that the cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is part of the same family? A cucumber is technically a gourd! All squashes are gourds, but not all gourds are squashes.

(A reminder if it’s been a long time since Bio 101: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species)

Most of the squash we eat in fact comes from a single species, Cucurbita pepo. Believe it or not, an acorn squash is the same species as a zucchini (despite their alphabetical separation). Some pumpkins are from this same species, though not all. Other C. pepo varieties include the delicata, the carnival squash (very similar to acorn), spaghetti squashes, and the various yellow squashes (straight or crookneck) you see described as “summer squash” in grocery stores.

It seems unlikely, doesn’t it? So much variety within a single species. It gets even weirder if you plant two varieties of the same species close to each other – there are some very strange hybrids out there, intentional and otherwise. (I’m not a botanist by any means, just a food nerd, and since plants make food, I’ve become kind of a plant nerd as well.)

Fun tidbit: the species name of C. pepo comes from the term for the type of fruit they generally bear – a pepo is a type of berry with only a single cell, enclosed in a hard rind, with many seeds. So, not only is an acorn squash a fruit, it’s actually a berry. Chew on that thought for a bit.Most other squashes come from one of three other species (C. maxima, C. moschata, and C. mixta, if you’re curious).

Growers and grocers tend to break squash down into two categories: summer and winter. Summer squashes (crookneck, zucchini) have soft rinds and tend to be less sweet and more “vegetable” tasting than winter squashes. Winter squashes have a hard rind and can usually sit around your kitchen for weeks without going bad, and they’re usually more sweet and have darker flesh.

Today’s recipe is the easiest way I know to prepare winter squashes. It’s suitable for just about any hard-skinned squash you find in the supermarket.

Baked Squash
Serves 2 as described. If you need to feed more people, buy a larger squash. Decrease the temperature to 325° to avoid burning the surface before the interior is cooked, and expect a longer cooking time overall. Or you can buy several small squashes and cook them as described.

You’ll need:

• One softball-sized round squash, or a 6″ oblong squash. I love carnival squash for this.
• Two tbsp unsalted butter
• Two tbsp packed brown sugar
• Pinch salt

Split the squash in half (carefully!) and scoop out the guts – seeds, stringy parts – with any tool you find user-friendly (I use a large spoon with thin edges). Rinse away the stickiness and pat dry.

Set your oven to 375°. Preheating is not absolutely necessary for this; the squash will cook just fine if you put it in a cold oven and let it get up to temperature.

Sprinkle salt over the interior surface of the squash. Don’t be heavy-handed, it only needs a dash.Drop one tablespoon of butter into each cavity and top it with one tablespoon of brown sugar.

Set the halves rind-down on a baking sheet and pop ‘em in the oven. Cooking times vary, so start with 10 minutes and go from there. Your squash is done when a fork or table knife can be easily inserted into the flesh all the way to the rind.

Serve whole, while hot, with a fork or spoon, or scoop out the flesh and mash it before serving.

I’m cooking delicata this way tonight. Here they are pre-cut:

These are slightly larger than a can of soda. They’ll be more than sufficient the three of us.