The photo op and selfie site at the Green City Market this past weekend seemed to be at a stand piled high with winter squash of all shapes, stripes and colors. The eye-popping display was the work of Vicki Westerhoff and her team at Genesis Growers, who lined up baskets of the season’s hard-shelled regulars — acorn, spaghetti, pumpkin and butternut — alongside a few interesting characters with names like Queensland blue, carnival, jarrahdale, red kuri, cushaw and Long Island cheese.
It’s a colorful display showing up at farmers markets throughout Chicagoland. (For a list of farmers markets: chicagotribune.com/farmersmarkets).
Westerhoff’s St. Anne farm grows about 20 varieties, both large and small. And while they all make terrific table decorations, Westerhoff is quick to note their sweet meat is good to eat.
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But there’s no need to struggle cutting them in half. Westerhoff bakes winter squash whole to begin the cooking.
The reason? “Because it sometimes takes a chain saw to get through a squash,” she says. “And this preserves your fingers.”
Westerhoff suggests washing the squash before baking, paying special attention to the stem area: “sometimes dirt can get in there in those tight little places.” She roasts a whole washed squash in a baking pan for 20 to 30 minutes in a 350 to 375 degree oven, depending on the type and size of the squash. Once it’s slightly softened, “you can take the squash out, place it on your cutting board and fairly easily cut it in half with a knife.”
Once it’s cut in half (or in smaller chunks, if you wish), “then you can scrape out the seeds and put it back into the oven and continue baking at 350 to 375 degrees” or until the flesh is tender. Sometimes she covers the squash to keep the flesh moist. Or in the case of spaghetti squash, turns it upside down to finish its cooking. That way “a lot of the juices drain out and the noodles don’t become soggy and stay crisper.”
What you do with cooked winter squash depends, of course. It can be filled with a sweet or savory filling. You can puree the flesh with a bit of cream, broth and seasonings to make a bisque.
Or turn it into a topping for a shepherd’s pie as Melissa Lanz does in her cookbook, “The Fresh 20” (William Morrow). Lanz folds stiffly beaten egg whites into seasoned mashed pumpkin, then uses it to top a baking dish of cooked and well-seasoned ground turkey (or beef) and vegetables (onion, carrots, etc.) before baking the assembled creations.
Or try this recipe from The Kitchn for lasagna-stuffed spaghetti squash.
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