What's Good On: Squash

Farm stands and grocery bins are stacked with winter squash right now: butternut, acorn, delicata, kabocha, and spaghetti. After a summer of grilling and quick sautés, this is the first stretch of the year when we're glad to turn the oven on.

Squash can look like a project. It's heavy, the skin is hard, and it rolls around on the cutting board while you decide where to start, but once you make the first cut, most of the rest is roasting and waiting.

You can skip the peeler more often than you'd think. Delicata, acorn, kabocha, and honeynut skins are all edible, and they soften in the oven enough to cut with a fork. Butternut skin is edible too, just chewier. For most squash, that means you halve it, scoop out the seeds, cut it into wedges or half-moons, toss it with oil and salt, and roast it in a hot oven until the edges brown and a fork slides through.

What to put on it

Plain roasted squash is a good place to try a new blend. Toss the slices with oil and a spoonful of one of these before they go in the oven.

Seattle Salmon Rub

Seattle Salmon Rub is named for salmon, and it's just as good on squash. The brown sugar caramelizes on the cut edges of delicata and acorn, and you taste orange first, with toasty cumin and coriander underneath.

Adjika

Adjika is one of our newest blends, from Georgia. It's savory and garlicky, with the maple-like smell of fenugreek and a slow chile heat that lingers after each bite. It's salt-free, so salt your squash separately.

Japanese Curry

Japanese Curry is also new, and the gentlest of the three. It's mild and warm with a slight sweetness, the flavor of a plate of Japanese curry rice. Roast kabocha with it, or simmer squash, carrots, and onions with a spoonful and some stock for a quick weeknight curry.

Kashmiri Curry, Baharat, Berbere, Ras El Hanout, and Shawarma Spice are also good choices for a sheet pan of squash.

A free tin of Svaneti

Svaneti Seasoned Salt is our free sample this month with every order over $35, and orders over $100 get a full tin. It's a Georgian seasoning salt with caraway, coriander, fenugreek, and garlic. Svaneti and Adjika both come from Georgia, so try them together on roasted squash: Svaneti for the salt and Adjika for the heat.

A casserole from our kitchen

This one comes from a staff member who makes it all fall. Brown a pound of ground pork with a generous spoonful of Chorizo Bomb, then add chopped onions and garlic and cook until they soften. Cook a spaghetti squash separately and scrape out the strands. Mix the pork, the squash, and a pinch of Alderwood Smoked Salt together in a big bowl, pack it into a casserole dish, and bake at 375°F for about 30 minutes. Pull it out, cover the top with a generous amount of shredded cheese, and put it back in the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the cheese melts and browns.

Recipes for Squash

Creamy Butternut Squash Bucatini Butternut simmered with shallots and Tuscan Rosemary Salt, blended into a sauce with a splash of half and half, and tossed with bucatini, toasted almonds, and Parmesan. About 30 minutes.

Chorizo Bomb Stuffed Acorn Squash Roasted acorn squash halves filled with ground chicken, peppers, and onion seasoned with Chorizo Bomb, then broiled under cheddar. A little over an hour, most of it in the oven.

Ras el Hanout Kaleidoscope Salad Butternut cubes roasted with Ras el Hanout and Urfa Biber, then tossed while still warm with vinegar-dressed kale, pomegranate seeds, and walnuts. About 55 minutes.

Don't be intimidated. Bring home a squash this week!

 - World Spice