For me, it's not officially autumn until I've brought home fresh picked acorn squash. My
again.
The beauty of acorn squash is that it's so flavorful, all you need for an impressive dish is a little nutmeg or cinnamon. When I make soup from acorn squash, I don't like to waste a single spoonful of it. I started out by cutting off the top (you can also just cut the squash in half, making two bowls... it all depends on how hungry you are), spooning out the insides, then separating the seeds from the squishy squash. For tips on cutting through squash, visit the
Cooking With Weston Recipe Book. I soaked the seeds in a bowl with melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then set them aside.
I put the insides into the
Roma by Weston La Petite Sauce Maker with butter, macarpone cheese, heavy cream, nutmeg, and a little parsley. I like to take advantage of both its sweet
and savory tones. Once I churned it out, I brought the soup to a simmer, then poured it into the bowls. I put the bowls onto a baking sheet with a
Weston Baking Mat (to protect the sheet, but mostly to make cleanup easier on myself), and baked them for 40 minutes, until the squash was soft. Then, I sprinkled them with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and baked them for 10 more minutes, until the cheese was melted and browned. That's all there is to
Acorn Squash Soup Bowls ...and yes, you
are supposed to eat the bowl.
While pumpkin seeds are good, I prefer squash seeds. They're more flavorful and have a natural sweetness. Not to mention, as with all seeds, they're high in nutrients. Usually, I let my seeds soak for at least 6 hours. In this case, I cozied up on the couch with my bowl of squash soup and left the seeds to soak overnight. I rolled the Weston Netting Roll onto the first tray of the
Weston 10-Tray Dehydrator and spread out my seeds. Then, I turned on the dehydrator, and after 8 hours, I had
Sweet Cinnamon Squash Seeds!
TECHNIQUES: