I first tasted Kabocha Squash about six years ago, when I lived in California. It’s practically a fall and winter staple food there, and in the test kitchens at Sunset magazine, where I worked at the time, we came up with all manner of ways to stew, roast, and steam it. Kabocha is a winter […]
I first tasted Kabocha Squash about six years ago, when I lived in California. It’s practically a fall and winter staple food there, and in the test kitchens at Sunset magazine, where I worked at the time, we came up with all manner of ways to stew, roast, and steam it.
A whole kabocha
Kabocha is a winter squash originally from Japan, which explains why it first made inroads on the West Coast and then made its way east. I love it for its sweet, nutty flavor and silky texture. In fact, I find it even smoother than acorn or butternut squashes, particularly when roasted. So I’m happy to see it showing up in more and more supermarkets (I bought mine at a Whole Foods outside of Boston).
And roasting is just about my favorite way to prepare kabocha: done simply with butter, brown sugar, and my apple butter. Here’s how.
First, cut the squash in halve, scoop out the seeds, and then cut each half into four wedges.
Dot each wedge with about 1 teaspoon salted butter, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and about 1 tablespoon apple butter.
Bake at 375° until tender and lightly browned at the edges, 30 to 35 minutes.
Enjoy!
Amy Traverso
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
This is the kind of simple recipe I want to see more often! My style of cooking includes doing a single serving of salmon in the microwave, skin side up for 2.20 minutes. If not quite done, I turn it over and give it a few more seconds ad lib. Cover with paper towel or your choice of cover to save from cleaning microwave! Salmon in a bed of lettuce with this wedge of squash on the side sounds good to me! Balsamic vinegar and oil on the lettuce.
First, cut the squash in halve, scoop out the seeds, and then cut each half into four wedges.
Dot each wedge with about 1 teaspoon salted butter, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and about 1 tablespoon apple butter.
Bake at 375° until tender and lightly browned at the edges, 30 to 35 minutes.
This is the kind of simple recipe I want to see more often! My style of cooking includes doing a single serving of salmon in the microwave, skin side up for 2.20 minutes. If not quite done, I turn it over and give it a few more seconds ad lib. Cover with paper towel or your choice of cover to save from cleaning microwave! Salmon in a bed of lettuce with this wedge of squash on the side sounds good to me! Balsamic vinegar and oil on the lettuce.