Lately I’ve been on a squash kick. Blue Hubbard has become one of my favorites. Maybe because it’s so odd and lumpy looking and some get huge.
Here is one, sort of medium sized.
Kind of a crazy looking squash. My neighbor brought me two more today that a friend got at the farmers’ market. So now I have more to experiment.
I first roasted one to test a pumpkin pie recipe, which wasn’t published but it was the best pumpkin pie I’ve had. I think it was due to the squash. I whacked the thing in half, removed the seeds and the stringy bits and roasted it face down on an oiled baking sheet with some water. It’s not as sweet as canned pumpkin so I added more sugar to taste, but it was a great deep color and very flavorful.
A few days later, I made Caramelized Hubbard Squash to take to a party. I was a little scared to cut it up at first, as this can be difficult but strangely, Hubbard doesn’t have a thick skin. Once I’d halved the squash and seeded it, I cut it into serving pieces, generally wedges and put them in a roasting pan.
I added olive oil, honey, ground cumin, cinnamon, salt and freshly ground pepper. I roasted the pieces at 400 degrees for maybe an hour. But when I took them out and tasted, they didn’t seem sweet or crisp. So I added more salt, oil, cinnamon and them sprinkled a bit of brown sugar over all. I baked them until the edges were deep brown and caramelized and the squash was extremely tender.
Because the flesh is so thick and dense, this method works beautifully and everyone seemed to love it. It’s also a very pretty dish. I need to restest to do a more formal recipe, but this is what the pieces looked like before they were roasted.
Here’s the finished dish. Some people like to eat the skin, but I am not really convinced. I’ll be making this again for Thanksgiving. It’s a new favorite.
