Never Bring a Knife To a Squash Fight
Michael Meyers disagrees...................
After that I used butternut.
Nice herb garden!
Never Bring a Knife To a Squash Fight
Michael Meyers disagrees...................
“White savory.” Interesting. Never heard of it.
Micromeria fruticosa; grows wild in Israel.
https://www.nativityseeds.com/en/shop/seeds/biblical-plants/white-leaved-savory-seeds.html
Depending on the squash I use different methods. I have used saws (both electric and hand) for the first cut and then gone to cleavers or knives.
One year I had a lot of pumpkins. I microwaved them in field dressed halves before processing further. That went quick.
I actually made a similar post a while back. I was talking about working at a food pantry back around 92. It really upset me the way these "needy" people would angrily reject fine gourmet foods requiring prep and demand low grade instant and half spoiled pemade garbage instead. Obviously selections of of any particular thing was generally very limited and the number I could give to any person was by necessity very small or there wouldn't be enough for the whole community. Other than bananas and rutabagas being always available, the only exception of unlimited items that also gave a person choices was winter squash. People would give me some really stupid excuses for why they shouldn't have to be burdened by taking home delicious nutritious food, difficulty of opening may have been the the dumbest and one of the most common. One day there was one rather plump "starving" con-woman that was unusually abrasive through the whole process that became enraged when I suggested squash because "I cant cut that! I have arthritis!" I happened to know that this person lived in a second floor apartment above a cement patio and snapped back something like, "I thought you were starving? Then throw it off the balcony or smash it with a rock!" Maybe not the kindest or best response in retrospect but I knew what was going on over at her place and had had quite enough.
Later, pondering methods available to those that may have real difficulties, I decided to try it for myself and had results much like you see above. I also put different kinds on pans and roasted them whole. The texture was even better and the shells peeled easily peeled right off but it was a physically easy but time intensive process to separate the strings from the meat and the seeds were a loss for further preparation.
While working to spread the gospel as taught by St Acornus of Squash, Ive found that the fried with pepper and salt is the surest way to chase away potential new adherents and only for advanced practioners. The various berry/nut recipes seem to require a more advanced or at least adventurous palate than the average skinless hotdogs and Kraft mac American seems to have cultivated.
The tastebuds of the Mexican food crowd is already lost to culinary hell so dont waste your time on them. For any other American trying squash for the first time I make pie spiced squash (the canned pumpkin most people eat in holiday pie is actually a squash). Theres some forethought and practice needed to cut an acorn so that it balances upright on a rack and not face down in a pan of water but its worth all the oven cleaning in the end. Split and gut them (the squash, not the guests). Enough sugar to lightly coat the exposed surface, butter, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, a drip of vanilla, bourbon, or almond. Plate and serve right in the halfshell. For diabetics, skip the sugar, remove from shell and whip in a bit of stevia. Hooks them every time.
Dont throw out those seeds! Not only are they easy for gardeners to dry and store for planting next spring but, they make a snack that tastes better than pumpkin seeds. Separate the seeds from the boogers and soak the seeds in a strong warm salt brine for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours in the fridge is actually better. Pour off the brine and gently roast the seeds in the oven at low temp (250 is good). Single layer, stirred occasionally so they dont stick. After successfully trying this a few times, try flavor substitutions like seasoning salt instead of regular in the brine or after regilar brining sprinkle on dill, or onion powder or garlic powder before roasting. Ive found that I prefer to leave mine in until they begin to brown as that makes them much crispier than store bought and much nuttier in flavor.