Pumpkin Soufflé or Winter Squash Soufflé

Brilliant Use of Leftover Pumpkin

Recipe from The Classic Zucchini Cookbook

For the past year I’ve been obsessed with soufflés. After the classic cheese soufflé, the golden delicious apple soufflé, and my recently posted acorn squash soufflé, I have one more recipe to explore, this time with leftover Winter Luxury pumpkin from Argentine beef stew in a pumpkin, pureed and frozen.  Any kind of cooked, pureed winter squash, or even canned pumpkin, will suit the recipe. It’s that late winter/early spring time of year, when I’m using up the rest of the winter squashes from last year’s farmers’ markets. Alas, I’m recycling the same old soup and baked squash recipes. This recipe can the antidote to baked squash ennui.

Acorn Squash Soufflé

Serve Warm, Room Temp, or Chilled

Recipe adapted from Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen

This last of a trio of soufflé recipes from an upstate New York monastery cookbook is perhaps my favorite, though it barely surpasses the classic cheese soufflé in deliciousness, and the apple soufflé is easier to prepare. This is a dessert soufflé, taking advantage of acorn squash’s natural sweetness, enhanced by small amounts of maple syrup and sugar. The cookbook suggests serving it warm, but it’s also good at room temperature, and IMHO even better chilled, like a light pumpkin-ish pudding infused with the unique flavor of acorn squash.

Chilean Pumpkin or Winter Squash Casserole

Oldie But Goodie Vegetarian

Recipe from Moosewood Cookbook

Way back in 1974, Mollie Katzen hand-wrote, illustrated, and published the first Moosewood Cookbook, with recipes she and other Moosewood Restaurant cooks dreamed up. It became an instant classic for creating satisfying vegetarian meals. Both the restaurant and cookbook have survived the intervening 40-plus years. Many new revised editions have been published, but this recipe, from my original handwritten edition, is delightfully old-school. It's a tasty way to use up leftover pumpkin, either from autumnal displays or from a recipe like Argentinian Beef Stew in a Pumpkin.

Ginger Glazed Winter Squash

Try it on Buttercup

Recipe adapted from Classic Zucchini Cookbook

One of the great loves of my life is butternut squash. I have whipped it, pied it, baked it, minestroned it, honeyed it, spiced it, saged it, saladed it, seeded it, puddinged it, muffined it, blondied it, and even microwave-steamed it in a motel room. And after all of this, I found yet another delicious way to serve it. Essentially, it’s baked, but adding sherry and ginger to the mix distinguishes it from the more usual cinnamon-maple syrup glaze. It’s a more sophisticated flavor that’s at home at fancier dinner parties and potlucks. So far I've glazed both butternut and buttercup squash.

Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Autumnal Fare

Recipe adapted from Casalegno Family Farm

One of my favorite things about Farmers’ Markets is meeting the people behind the food. It’s especially rewarding to meet a vendor who owns and operates a farm while raising two children and working a day job. Marissa Casalegno and her husband Matt, are the fifth Casalegno Farm generation. They work day and night to expand their farm and preserve heirloom veggies. Marissa gave me this recipe, featuring Casalegno Family Farm’s fantastic winter squash and green apples. Sausage and spices compliment sweet squash and sour apples beautifully.

Pesto, Kale, and Mushroom Spaghetti Squash

Italian Style Spaghetti Squash

Recipe Adapted from Allrecipes.com

It’s spring! Though spring officially arrives today, it will be a month or more before we start seeing local spring veggies. In the meantime, using up last year’s harvest of winter squash is prudent, but boring. But with just a little bit of cheating—making a winter pesto with imported basil leaves or buying premade pesto at the market—last year’s spaghetti squash is elevated to Italianesque loveliness. Combined with in-season kale, onions, and mushrooms, plus a dose of Parmesan, garlic, and red pepper, this spaghetti squash awakens even the most jaded of winter palates.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Pomegranate

Bright and Beautiful, Plus Nutritious

Recipe Adapted from Vegetable Recipes I Can’t Live Without

Butternut squash is a popular autumn vegetable, yet most recipes are more or less the same. The squash roasted or steamed till soft, then combined with sweet and/or savory spices, or perhaps nuts or seeds. Or it’s made into soup. This recipe is completely unique because the butternut is cooked crisp-tender. This takes less than 10 minutes in the oven. The texture can surprise people, especially when served at room temperature. At a recent potluck, one person thought it was persimmon, and another marveled at this new use for cantaloupe. This easy side dish is an unusual addition to the Thanksgiving table. It’s colorful and gluten-, meat-, and dairy-free. Substitute another oil for walnut, and it’s also nut-free.

Butternut Sage Soup

Closeup of Soup with Toppings

Recipe by Zach

Back in March, I attended a music workshop in chilly (to Californians) Whidbey Island. Not only did Ruzivo teach us 3 songs for 8-piece marimba ensembles in less than 48 hours, each band member was also responsible for feeding us a delicious meal. This warming soup hit the spot on a rainy afternoon. We pretty much insisted that Zach, who’s been playing marimba professionally since age 11, give us the recipe. He said that though the soup is supposed to be pureed, he pureed just half—creating an agreeable texture. Cooler weather, impending frost on the garden sage, and Farmers’ Market butternut inspired me to recreate this soup.

Honey Butternut Soup

Ringed with Honey and Dolloped with Yogurt

Recipe Adapted from the National Honey Board

What better way to honor autumn than by making butternut squash soup? But the endless variety of recipes had me befuddled about how to begin. Shall I add apples, savory veggies, or use just straight butternut? Do I add allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, or not? How about cream or yogurt, yes or no? Then, since September is National Honey Month, a recipe from the very interesting bee book, “Letters from the Hive, an Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind,” caught my attention. After a bit of adaptation to reduce the fat and better quantify the ingredients, I had the perfect season-appropriate recipe. It’s both sweet and savory, with an earthy honey flavor.

Whipped Winter Squash

Simple Comfort Food

Recipe adapted from Recipes from the Root Cellar

I hope you have had as quiet and contemplative a month as I have. After lots of socializing and baking during the holiday season, I’ve been quite lazy. True that I started a weight-lifting program and have been reading a lot. But in the kitchen, less has been more. Hence this super-simple recipe for an elegant winter side dish that requires few ingredients and little effort. If you’re really lazy, like I am, you can spread the prep over two days by cooking the squash one night and whipping it up the next. Vary the ingredients as you like, and don’t even measure if you’re really lazy (fewer dishes to wash). A splash of this, a dollop of that will do the trick.

Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup

Swirled with Spicy Oil, Topped with Raisins and Cilantro

Recipe by Melinda’s friend

I love everything about my new job, even the fact that it cuts down on the amount of time that I have for blogging. What better job for a writer than library aide: juggling books, lifting, shelving, pushing carts, reaching, bending and generally getting off one’s duff and away from the screen? Also, there’s constant exposure to great (and not so great) literature for inspiration. Even better, Melinda, my new coworker, is cheerful, smart, and an amazing cook. Her version of butternut soup has a spicy kick to it, along with chunky interest provided by chickpeas, bell peppers, and not-pulverized butternut. The spicy olive oil and golden raisins garnishes add yet more flavor. Since my husband is ho-hum about any super-smooth, creamy, bland soup, this kicked-up, texture-rich squash soup became an instant family favorite at my house.

Delicata Squash Burgers

Delicata Squash Makes Golden Burgers

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes

In case you haven’t heard, the world’s largest online foodie community, Allrecipes.com, now publishes a bi-monthly print edition. Recently an article in Allrecipes about in-season winter squash featured this recipe by Kphanie, who says that it makes wonderful ravioli stuffing as well as burgers. Delicata squash has a light flavor and just enough texture to hold a burger together. Though these burgers aren’t “meaty,” they’re agreeably flavored and textured, with sundried tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and Parmesan cheese adding to the delicate squash flavor. An excellent use of my last home-grown squash from 2013’s harvest, especially since my husband isn’t crazy about delicatas as-is.

Slow Cooked Chicken Two Ways

DIY Taco in the Works

Recipes for Tacos and Chicken with Pasta

Slow cookers. Gotta love a device that cooks dinner for you. It’s even better when it cooks two dinners at once, and they’re both comfort foods. With my friend Jenn’s help, a couple years back I multiplexed my slow cooking with a Turkey Chili and Soup idea. Tacos (Jenn’s original idea) and chicken with pasta are this year’s double dinners. Like the super-simple originals, just a few ingredients go into the slow cooker, and other dinner preparation is minimal. This leaves plenty of time for other fun activities on cold winter nights.

Spiced Squash Pudding or Pumpkin Pudding

Beautifully Butternutted

Recipe adapted from Yankee Magazine

Love pumpkin pie, but hate the calories? Unsatisfied with commercial piecrusts, but don’t have time and/or skills to prepare them yourself? Is preparing pumpkin too time-consuming and messy, yet you eschew the can? Looking for a new twist on old-fashioned flavor with easy preparation? I have good news for you. This recipe adds an unusual spiciness to an easy-prep butternut squash pudding. Although Yankee magazine fashioned this pudding to stand on its own, adding a pastry or crumb crust isn’t out of the question, nor is substituting fresh or canned pumpkin for the squash.

Maple Pumpkin or Butternut Oat Muffins

Muffins Almost Ready to Eat

Recipe adapted from Slim and Scrumptious

In my quest to eat lighter foods to prepare for the inevitable holiday indulgences, I perused Joy Bauer’s Slim and Scrumptious, a collection of easy and healthful family meals. You might know Joy from her TV show Good Food, Good Deeds, where she teams up with Florence Henderson to create healthy meals for seniors. Joy’s recipe calls for canned pumpkin, but I substituted leftover butternut squash. Butternut won the pumpkin vs. squash pie smackdown last year, and it performed just as beautifully in the muffins, adding just a touch of extra sweetness to this low sugar recipe.

Apple Raisin Pecan Stuffed Delicata Squash

Fabulous Fruit and Nut Stuffing

Gluten Free Recipe by Robin

Two years ago I had no idea what delicata squash were, although I received them in my CSA farm share during fall deliveries. Delicatas are delightfully light-textured and sweet oblong-shaped winter squash. The skin is edible, but some people (my husband for example) don't want to eat it. So it's best to cook delicata so that the skin can be removed should someone choose to.  My maple glazed delicata squash rings were a big hit around Thanksgiving last year. This year baskets of apples overflowing onto kitchen counters gave me sudden inspiration to slice the delicatas in the opposite direction and stuff them with something akin to apple pie filling.

Autumn Minestrone

Autumn Colors and Flavors

Recipe Inspired by The Art of Simple Food

One of my favorite things about autumn is a steady supply of fresh butternut squash. Complimenting both savory and sweet dishes, often used in “pumpkin” pies, a sweet treat simply steamed with a touch of butter, it’s the quintessential fall vegetable. So when Alice Waters suggested, in her classic book The Art of Simple Food, to try butternut in place of zucchini to make a summery minestrone into a fall dish, I had to give it a whirl. Indeed, the soup is a delightfully autumn-like orange, and as full of chunky goodies as its warmer weather brethren.

Baked Winter Squash with Greens & Bacon

Contrast in Color, Flavor, and Texture

Kabocha Squash and Collard Greens, Recipe by Robin

Let’s wrap up 2012 with a favorite winter recipe that relies on contrasts. Pairing sweet, dense, and soft kabocha squash with strong, chewy, and sour collard greens, this is perfect food for saying goodbye to 2012, filled as it was with both ease and challenge. The recipe was inspired by a potluck dish I had years ago. The cook would only disclose that she used red kabocha squash, known in some countries as Japanese pumpkin. It’s drier than most winter squash, so benefits from cooking in sauce or stews. Green kabocha is also available, but you’ll have to peel it to get the color contrast. Though this is a vegetarian dish, my recent foray into the bacon world has inspired me to add a with-bacon option.

Pumpkin Pie vs. Squash Pie

The Contenders

Pumpkin or Squash Pie Filling Recipe by Mom & Robin

The votes are in on the Christmas pies, despite a bit of a recipe fail. On all counts, the best pumpkin pie seems to be made with butternut squash. In fact, many bakeries that make pumpkin pie actually use butternut. It resembles pumpkin in flavor, but is sweeter. It has a lower water content than pumpkin, which means that you can eliminate draining it in cheesecloth after cooking and mashing if you’re in a hurry. Pumpkin does have a distinct if subtle flavor that is somewhat earthier than butternut. Because of this subtle flavor difference Elizabeth, our Christmas hostess, stated that next we need to test fresh butternut vs. canned pumpkin puree. Since butternut is currently so inexpensive and can be used in so many ways, that test might not happen soon.

Maple Glazed Sweet Dumpling Squash

My Sweet Dumpling

Recipe by Robin

A few years back I prepared some sweet dumpling squash, and they came out terrible. What did I know? They looked so cute in the market, and I thought “why not prepare them like butternut?” But, whereas butternut is solid and substantial in flavor and texture and plenty thick, sweet dumplings are subtle and delicate. And there’s just a thin layer of squash once the sweet dumpling’s seeds are removed. So it’s easy to overcook if baked upside down in a water bath (a method that works beautifully for butternut). Plus, the water leaches out some of its subtle flavor. So I came upon the idea of turning the squash right-side-up in the water bath. And I used my Mom’s idea for acorn squash: fill the cavity with sweet and salty stuff.