When I was three I spit a bite of King Ranch Chicken on my plate and then had to sit there for probably close to two hours, either deciding I liked the casserole or as a punishment for spitting it onto my plate, the reason escapes me. I did so petulantly, alternately staring at the congealing plate of cheesy, tomatoey chicken and crying at the agony of sitting there for so long. So what if there were starving kids in Africa! Send them the damn king ranch chicken, there was no way it was going in my mouth.
I suppose I learned my lesson though, because I can honestly say I have tried at least one bite of everything that has come my way since then. Everything that is until this past Sunday.I fully expected to love the golden acorn squash with its sunny beta carotene pumpkin color and butternut squash flavor and I was excited to take the picture! It was so pretty with its maple cinnamon butter and pretty roasted outside.
SA took a great picture and then we sat down to partake of its lovliness. I took the first bite, my fork gently cutting and scooping into the perfectly roasted flesh.
Then it hit my mouth. I rolled it around. I tried to chew it. My taste buds tasted it. It. was. slimy. chunky. pumpkiney when I expected squashy. It was disgusting. I spit it out. At thirty something I could not for the life of me get it far enough into my mouth to swallow it. SA looked aghast at me and murmured something that sounded like: "What the F*&^k?" and tried his half. He liked it. He loved it. He ate my half (around the bite that I spit back on my plate.)
Regardless of how I personally feel about acorn squash, I'm going to post this recipe! SA enjoyed it, and hopefully you will too. Just remember if you choose not to eat it:
THERE'S STARVING KIDS IN AFRICA!
Roasted Acorn Squash
2 whole Acorn Squash
4 dashes Olive Oil
1/2 stick Butter, softened
1.4 cups Brown Sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 TBSP maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350. Cut open your acorn squash and dig out the guts, just like a pumpkin.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup and butter together in a bowl, Pull the squash out of the oven and top each half with a dollop of the sugar mixture. Return the wedges to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes, basting often with the sugary juices in the bottom of the pan.
Squash is done when it can easily be pierced with a fork. Drizzle with more basting sauce and serve.
Acorn Squash
