Squash-a-palooza
For a Halloween party, I bought squash for decoration, they began to go bad, I roasted them, and then had to cook them. I then bought another bunch of squash as decoration for Thanksgiving. Lather, rinse, repeat and I had three batches of roast squashes to deal with.
The pumpkin was obvious. I made Impossible Pumpkin Pie. Even though I accidentally baked it at the roasting temp (400F) instead of the called-for temp (350F), it showed again that pumpkin pie made with real pumpkin is as good or better than that from canned. The higher temp made the top bubbled and a little overbrown, but the good thing about baking is that mistakes often just make the item uglier, not less tasty.
With four cups of Hubbard squash puree, I made a simple squash lasagna from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food.
Finally, with about 2 cups of Red Kabocha puree, I made up a recipe for squash croquettes. I had good results, and will continue to fiddle with the recipe.
Brown Rice and Winter Squash Croquettes with Horseradish-Dill sauce
1 small bunch beets
1 cup roasted squash
2 cups cooked brown rice (try Lundberg Wehani for stronger flavor)
1/4 bread crumbs, more as needed
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbl. butter
1 tsp. brown rice vinegar
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/2 tsp. prepared horseradish
Preheat oven to 400. Trim and wash beet greens. Roast beets with skin on in foil packet for about an hour, or till very soft. Cool. Remove skin and cut into 1/2″ cubes.
Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, combine beets, squash, brown rice, bread crumbs and herbs. Mix lightly until combined. Add breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet to form patties. Form eight small or four large patties. Place on baking sheet and bake until warmed through and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine yogurt and herbs in small bowl for sauce. Saute beet greens in butter until wilted, then drizzle with brown rice vinegar. Divide among four plates. Place croquette(s) on greens, and drizzle 1 Tbl. sauce over each.
Added later: this recipe keeps evolving in my head. I think apple or cranberry chutney would go nicely with this.