Acorn Squash with Maple Syrup & Rosemary – Farmer’s Market Wednesday

OK, its Tuesday. But I’ve only just got round to it. Luckily for me, the squash kept. I’ve never cooked acorn squash before, but I love squash and they’re seasonal so therefore very cheap at the moment. I was really stuck with what I was going to do with it and was on the brink of stuffing it (maybe next week) but I noticed that a lot of people baked theirs simply with sugar and maple syrup. Given I bought a bottle of syrup on the weekend, I thought I would give this a go, but with rosemary and black pepper to make it more savoury. Serves 2 as a very substantial side dish.

• 1 acorn squash

• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 heaped tsp butter
• 1 tsp very, very finely chopped rosemary
• a lot of turns of the peppermill
• salt
• half kettle of boiling water

Preheat oven to gas 6.

Firstly cut your squash in half with very large, very sharp knife or cleaver from the stalk to the base. If the halves won’t sit upright by themselves, you can cut a small slice off the bottom of them, so they behave better. Remove the seeds and innards from the squash and with a small sharp  knife, score lines into the flesh length and width of the flesh so the maple syrup mixture soaks in. In each cavity put a tablespoon of maple syrup, a teaspoon of butter, and then sprinkle on the rosemary, salt and pepper all over the inside. Put the halves on large roasting tin, and pour an inch or so of boiling water into the pan. Put into the oven and cook for about an hour and a half, depending on the weight and size of your squash.

You will notice that mine has, errr, caramelised on top. I think that was because I was basting it with the maple syrup mixture all the way through, and it simply took too long. Ah well, better to meet with triumph and disaster just the same. In case you are wondering, yes, it was really delicious, despite looking a little black in patches. In future though, I would cover it with foil after an hour or so, so it doesn’t catch again.