Different can be Good

Pumpkin Squash from Bee Natural Farm

People are creatures of habit.  Perhaps some of our most ingrained habits surround the foods we buy and how we cook them.  We trace the same path each time we head into the supermarket, filling our carts with the safe and familiar. Most times we pass by the unfamiliar with little or no curiosity.  A truth I have come to realize is that if my local grocer carries an item on a regular basis, there is some shopper out there who buys that ingredient fairly often, at least often enough to keep it in stock on the shelves. Therefore there must be some culinary options for the unknowns that are pretty darn good.

For many years, I passed through the produce section regularly without giving much notice to the bin of squashes.  If anything I probably registered them as a decorative element, bringing to mind the "horn of plenty" we see at Thanksgiving each year, placed there to make me think there is some sort of real harvest happening close by. Ambience, that's what they were to me.  And then about a decade ago I was propelled into the land of unknown squashes.  First, I began to see more and more things made with butternut squash, and actually TRIED butternut squash ravioli and found it to be amazing.  As a matter of fact, I love butternut squash ravioli, simply dressed with a bit of brown butter and fried sage leaves.  Ooh la la, not much better!  So, I investigated the squash bin to see if I could identify ye olde butternut squash.  There she was, looking indeed like a big nut of some kind.  Alongside the butternut was another little squashy that looked like a big old acorn.  Hence the name on the label, "acorn" squash. I tucked that knowledge away in the back of my mind knowing it would come home to roost at a later time.  And indeed it did.

Several, several years ago, at Thanksgiving--the official celebration of harvest and all things good and plentiful on the table--acorn squash jumped back into the forefront of my vision when I perused a special recipe section in the Atlanta Journal Constitution food section.  They featured a recipe for "Acorn Squash with Maple Georgia Pecans and Goat Cheese."  This recipe was included as a vegetarian main dish alternative in the traditional Thanksgiving feast.  Well, they had me at goat cheese.  I never met a recipe with goat cheese I didn't like.  This was no exception.  Omnivore that I am, I did not give up my Thanksgiving tryptophan (read Turkey.)  But I did try this recipe and have made it a few gazillion times since because it is so good.  It is a great alternative to the baked potato, or mashed sweets, or rice, or other starch you place alongside your meat.  It is indeed also a great centerpiece entree in a Meatless Monday meal.  It adds heft to greens and a salad, and the denseness of the squash balances out lighter offerings quite nicely.

One of the highlights of my life this year is that I became a member of the Bee Natural CSA in Baldwin County.  It is the only true CSA in this region and sports a two year waiting list.  When I moved to this area, I plopped myself onto that waiting list, called annually to plead my case, and then got THE LETTER this January saying that I had been accepted.  Remember Steve Martin in a movie called, The Jerk, finding his name in the phone book and announcing, "I'm somebody now"?  Picture me jumping around in my kitchen waving the official letter in my hands proclaiming my secure footing in this world.  I AM A CSA MEMBER.

My first pick-up this spring gave me a choice between a couple of cellared items: sweet potatoes or pumpkin squash.  Committed to taking the food road less traveled, I chose the pumpkin squash, which looked quite a bit like my old friend the acorn squash, only a little less green and a bit more like a diminutive candidate for a good old Halloween carving.  Not having a clue what the inside would be like, but taking my cue from the butternut and acorn varieties, I cooked it up with my tried and true pecan and goat cheese accompaniments.  This was such a good dish that I chose the pumpkin squash over the sweet potatoes the next three weeks.  Maybe you've got a little squash friend making an appearance in your CSA box, or maybe you'd like to get a little better acquainted with the squash bin in your supermarket.  Or maybe you have done baked potatoes until you just can't stand to butter up another.  Or perhaps I had you at "goat cheese."  Something different (with a little goat cheese on top) can be VERY good.

ACORN (OR PUMPKIN) SQUASH WITH MAPLE PECANS AND GOAT CHEESE
adapted from the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Georgia Pecan Commission

Note:  Each squash makes 2 servings.  Quantities listed are for 1 squash.  This can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled to feed as many folks as you have invited round the table.

1 acorn squash, halved crosswise and seeded
dash of salt
1 Tbs. melted butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 Tbs. real maple syrup, plus more to drizzle
1/4 tsp. fresh thyme leaves or a dash of dry
2 ounces goat cheese (feta would work)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
3.  Sprinkle the inside of the squash halves with salt and brush with melted butter.

4.  Turn upside down and bake for 30 minutes. (I slice the pointy end off the squash so it will eventually sit flat on a plate.)

5.  In a bowl, combine the pecans, maple syrup and thyme.

6.  Place a heaping tablespoon of the pecan mixture in the hollow of each squash half.

7.  Place a one ounce round of goat cheese (or one ounce crumbles) over the pecan mixture in each squash half and top with the remaining pecan mixture.

8.  Bake upright 10 minutes.  Drizzle with more syrup as desired.