Roasted Delicata Squash

Source: Adapted from Darya Rose, www.summertomato.com

Ingredients

2
delicata squash
2 tablespoons
olive oil
 
salt (to taste)
 
pepper (to taste)
Yields:
Servings

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F.                                                                                                 

Clean the delicata squash by running under warm water and scrubbing away dirt with your hands. If there are any hard spots on the squash, you can scrape them off with a butter knife.                                                                                                         

With a sharp knife, cut delicata in half lengthwise. This should be easy and not require any crazy hacking. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds and discard (or you can save these and prepare them like pumpkin seeds if you wish).                             Cut each delicata half into 1/2 inch segments, creating moon-shaped pieces that have slight bumps around the curve.                                                                               

Place delicata segments into a large bowl. Add olive oil and toss well to coat all sides but be aware that too much oil can make the squash soggy.                                                                                                                                                                                  Arrange the pieces in a single layer on a metal baking sheet. Salt gently. It’s okay if the pieces are a little crowded, but try to maximize the surface area of the squash touching the pan. The browning only occurs where the squash and pan meet.          Place in oven and roast 10 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the squash in the pan so that the light sides are now touching the pan and the brown sides are facing upward.

Continue roasting for another 7 - 10 minutes until both sides of the squash pieces are golden brown and the texture is creamy to the teeth all the way through, about 25 - 30 minutes. Adjust salt and add pepper.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Serve as a side dish or as an appetizer with a tahini, hummus or pesto topping.  (Recipe♦723)