SQUASH!
Wild Word Friday!
I love Christmas, and, because I’m a Christian, the holiday has an extra special meaning for me, but I can get burned out fast by all the preparations, parties, and commotion. That means it’s also the perfect time of year for comfort food, and for me comfort food includes winter SQUASH. I love it served sweet with brown sugar, walnuts, raisins. I love it plain. I love it whipped into a pie. I just had a friend give me a wonderful recipe that uses cornbread stuffing and dried fruit to stuff a SQUASH. I won’t even mention how many calories are in a serving of that special recipe. Or maybe I will – more than 500! Now that’s comfort food.
To delve a little deeper, not with our spoons but into history, we find that SQUASH – the word and the plant – came to the English language, and to all of us, via the Wampanoag native tribes that were located in the area that became eastern Massachusetts. They spoke a language called Natick. Their word for SQUASH is a little more complex than ours – askutasquash – which means thing eaten green.
Question for you: Do you like winter SQUASH? How do you prepare it?
Blessings!
Sue
(Some information from WEBSTER’S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY, UNABRIDGED. Photo from Wikipedia.)
hi Sue,
I was never a big fan of squash, until I met some American people last year whom talked very enthusiastic about squash, so I decided to see what to do with those funny looking vegetables. I came up with a recipe that is now loved in my family. It is light and very yummy.
Here is my recipe;
Butternut squash, chicken and thyme roast
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
8 skin-on chicken thighs
2 small red onions, cut into wedges
600 gr. Butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 garlic cloves, sliced
8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tbsp. crème fraiche
50 ml. chicken stock
Method:
Heat the oven to 190 C. put the oil in a large non stick roasting tin and heat over a medium hob.
Add the chicken thighs and cook for 3-4 min until golden. Turn and cook for a further 2- 3 min. remove from the tin and set aside
Add the onions and squash to the tin and cook, turning occasionally for 5-6 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Return the chicken to the tin, scatter with the thyme. Season. Transfer to the oven for min. 40 min. until the chicken is cooked through. Put the roasting tin over a low heat on the hob, stir in the crème fraiche and chicken stock. Bubble for 2 min. serve.
Wow, Jackie! What a great comment – I love the recipe and will share it with my FB friends, too! Many thanks!