Roasted Winter Squash Salad

I keep buying kabocha squash. Orange ones. This is despite the fact that, orange or green, they're incredibly heavy. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I'm a complainer, allow me to add this - the walk home from the farmers' market is best thought of as a summit attempt. Straight up, five blocks. And not only are the kabocha dead weight, but they also threaten to crush the eggs, and smash the little gems in my sack. Bag bullies. But I can't get enough of them, and I've come to terms with the fact that they're actually worth the fuss - just the right amount of sweetness, quick-cooking, velvet-textured, sunset-orange flesh, AND they don't have the stringiness of pumpkins.

My absolute favorite way to eat the orange kabocha is this: roast fat wedges to within an inch of their life at 425F / 220C. They should end up deeply browned, the flesh tender and nearly falling from the sliver of skin lending structure. While still hot, eat straight from the skin - each bite with a smear of butter and a few flakes of good salt.

When you've had enough of that, I encourage you to try this. In short, it's a wintertime riff on potato salad. No potatoes though, just winter squash (kabocha, pumpkin, acorn, etc) roasted until brown-crusted and tender fleshed. Chopped celery and red onion lend crunch, bite, and that familiar flavor profile. The rest of the salad (in this case) came together from whatever was within arms reach; rosemary from the window-sill, the second half of my beer = dressing base, toasted walnuts and currants hopped up from spice drawer.

This is a long way of saying, if you come across these guys at the market, bring one home with you. I suspect you'll agree it's worth the effort. -h

Book signing: Just a quick reminder that I'll be at the Remodelista Holiday Market in Marin this Saturday 12/3 from 10-4. I'll have books to sell, and I'm happy to sign books you already have. Hope to see some of you there.

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