Hello, this is John from FoodWishes.com with a baked acorn squash. Don’t those look good? Acorn squash, not the most exciting vegetable in the world, but with this delicious glaze, I think you’re going to like it, and they look cool.
So here, we’re going to take two acorn squash and cut them in half lengthwise. These are so dangerous so start the knife really carefully, wait until it cuts in a little bit with almost no pressure, then give it some pressure and go through. So the first couple of inches there, be really deliberate and careful. Once it’s cut in half, take a spoon and go ahead and just scoop out the seeds and the strings. And then, you’re going to take a very sharp paring knife and make slashes, crisscross pattern, about a quarter inch deep. And you’ll notice, I’m holding one end of the acorn squash cutting the other end and then flipping it so my hands basically stays far away from the knife as possible. So we’re going to cut every about half inch and then go the other way and those slashes are what’s going to let that glaze kind of soak in nice and deep and make it extra delicious.
We’re going to put those in a baking dish and then take a couple tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice and just paint it on. Make sure it gets in all those little mixing crannies. Give it a nice dusting of kosher salt. Those are going to go in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. This is cooking segment one.
While that’s cooking, we’re going to take a couple of tablespoons of butter, a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup, some brown sugar, black pepper, and just a dash of cayenne. Alright, put that over medium heat, bring it to a simmer, give it a stir and boil that for one minute. And that’s our glaze.
Alright, half hour has elapsed. We’re going to pull out our squash. And you’ll notice on the bottom of each one, you’re going to get a couple tablespoons of liquid. This clear liquid, pour that out. That’s going to dilute the glaze. So carefully pour that out. Take your glaze and paint it on each squash. So you want to divide that glaze by the four squash. It’s okay if a little bit runs into the center. That will happen but just brush it the best you can up the sides and over the top. That’s going to go back in the oven still at 400 of course for another 40 minutes. So 40 minutes, it comes out and it’s beautiful. Now that glaze as it cools a little bit, it’s going to thicken up. So what you want to do is take it from the bottom, there’ll be maybe like a tablespoon at the bottom. Just keep dripping that down the sides through those little slashes. It looks so beautiful. I think it’s like almost borderline wrong to find a squash that attractive. You know, I can’t help myself, I’m in love.
We’re going to throw a little more salt on there. 95% of people that don’t like vegetables have never had them properly salted. It’s one of my many theories I can’t prove. And then you’re going to just use a spoon to scoop out that delicious sweet glazed squash. And by the way, some of you were wondering why I don’t take a big bite at the end of the videos lately, because I got to photo these for the cookbook so I got to keep them looking nice. In case you miss that, just close your eyes, pretend I’m eating a bite.
Anyway, I hope you guys give it a try. It’s a really simple recipe. Great side dish for anything. All the greens are on the sites so go check it out. And as always, enjoy it.
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