Acorn Squash

Marlana's house (Aug)

Simply halve and hollow out acorn squash, then fill the hollow center with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and salt…then you bake it.
You might prefer to scrape out the individual halves into a large casserole dish or serve them straight out of the oven. If the squash are large, they might be a little to big for one person.

You need: Acorn Squash, salt (kosher works best), butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup (the real stuff; not Aunt Jemima.)
To cut the squash in half lengthwise, very carefully pierce the middle with a sharp knife. Scrape out the seeds and stringy membranes.
Now, with the tip of a sharp knife, score the surface of the squash. A few lines will do.
Then sprinkle the surface with salt.
Add a generous tablespoon of regular (salted) butter into the hollow
Now, dump in a heaping couple of tablespoons of brown sugar. There’s no set amount here; if you like things on the sweet side, add a little more.
Now, just drizzle with maple syrup.
Again, no set amount…

Next, pour a couple of cups of water into the pan, just to provide the squash with a little moist heat while they’re baking.
Cover the pan with foil, leaving some gaps to let some steam escape.
Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes. Turn on the broiler for the last five minutes to ensure the tops get brown and the butter/sugar mixture bubbles.
With a spoon, scoop up some of the liquid…
And drizzle over the surface of the squash.

You can scrape out the flesh (and juice) of each half and put the whole mixture into a casserole dish and mashing it up slightly. Then, just warm it up in the oven when you’re ready to serve.
OR, you can just serve the halves on a platter
You just use your spoon to scrape up the soft flesh inside…


You can find this at: thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/delicious-baked-acorn-squash/