My favorite way of preparing vegetables is to roast them.  This is also a perfect method this time of year, during the cold winter months. Roasted root vegetables with a nice piece of chicken or game, some roasted potatoes and I’m good to go.  In the summer, I roast a whole plethora of vegetables  such as zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant and onions or to top on my salad for a rataouille (soup), or even throw it on top of a low carb pizza for my cheat meal.

I also roast vegetables to make my own vegetable or chicken stock, as the roasting process produces so much more flavor in the vegetable then boiling or steaming it.  The sweet flavors of the veggies come out, even some earthy notes, throw in some fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano and a couple of smashed garlic cloves, and you’ve got yourself a gourmet meal right there!

Below is a recipe for delicious side dish you can eat with your protein instead of rice or potatoes.  Try it out – super flavorful and very wintery

MAPLE ROASTED DELICATA SQUASH

1- 1 1/2 lb delicata squash or other smooth skinned winter squash

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

2 tbsp white or red wine or water

3 tbsp chopped pepitas or sunflower seeds, toasted

1 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a roasting pan or half sheet pan with Pam Spray. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut the flesh into 1/2 inch dice.  Alternatively, you can roast the halves whole. Spray the squash with a bit of Pam Spray and combine with the maple syrup in a bowl.  Arrange in a single layer in the pan. Roast for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, combine cranberries and wine and heat for 30 seconds in microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat until soft.

When squash is tender, transfer it to a serving bowl. Add the softened pomegranate seeds,  pepitas and ginger. Toss to mix.  Serve hot.

Image source: Myrecipes.com

This weekend, we took a one day trip to Chicago to visit family. We ate like kings (fresh corn bread with honey & butter, cranberry cake with an incredible toffee sauce – amongst many other dishes – mmmm) at our hosts’ place and went out to Piece for pretty amazing pizza. It was a wonderful trip, full of stories and laughter. It’s amazing how refreshing good company can be. Despite sitting in a car for 16 hours, I felt pretty energized when I was back at work the next day.

Yesterday was the first time I had trick or treaters. We got a big bag of assorted candy and David got a ton of tiny pumpkins to give away too. They were a hit with the little ones, as we heard some of them squeal with delight (‘look at my teeny weeny little pumpkin!’, and ‘does my pumpkin have seeds in it?’). All our neighbors joined us in front of the building and enjoyed watching some very creative costumes over hot chocolate. By 7:45, all the candy was gone, (even the Twix bars I had initially hidden for myself were given out) and we sadly had to break the hearts of the few who knocked too late. Oh well!

Without further ado, here is today’s recipe for the Delicata Squash and Rosemary soup that I made. The original recipe belongs to A Chow Life whose blog is so mouthwatering, you might want to reconsider looking at it on an empty stomach. I made some variations to the recipe by blending the soup in a food processor, using vegetable broth instead of chicken, goat cheese instead of bleu cheese, and I also added cream to it. If you want to turn this into a vegan dish, Vegan Yum Yum has this great recipe in which she uses cashew cream (made with broth and cashews). I am a big fan of butternut squash but I have to say, I like delicata even better. We had the soup with French bread and it was so filling, there wasn’t much room in our stomachs for anything else. I can’t wait to make this again soon.

Ingredients

Delicata Squash – 2 medium sized, halved and seeded
Onion – 1 medium, finely diced
Vegetable Broth – 2 ½ cups
Heavy Cream (or half and half) – 1 cup
Fresh Rosemary – 1 ½ Sprigs
Butter – 1 TBSPN
Salt – to taste
Black Pepper – ½ TSPN
Crumbled Goat Cheese (or Blue Cheese) 1 TBSPN (optional)

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a baking pan that will fit the squash with 1/8^th inch of water and place the squash halves with open sides up in it. Cover with foil and roast in the oven for 40 mins until the insides of the squash are soft.

2. Once the squash is roasted, let it cool a little and then scoop out the flesh.

3. In a deep saucepan, melt the butter, and add the onion and rosemary and cook until the onion is soft (4 minutes), on low heat.

4. Add the stock, and increase the heat to medium high.

5. Once the stock bubbles, add the squash and cook it in the soup for 10 – 12 minutes.

6. Add the cream now and stir to mix everything well for 1 to 2 minutes.

7. Next, add the soup to your food processor and pulse it until it is smooth (not too much – just a few pulses will do).

8. Put the soup back in the saucepan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, just to heat up the soup.

9. Pour soup into bowls and top with a little bit of crumbled goat cheese.

10. Serve with warm bread and butter and enjoy its deliciousness.

Delicata Squash

I purchased delicata squash for the first time last week, unsure how to prepare it I found a recipe in my Eating Well magazine, I made a couple tweaks to the recipe.  I was told delicata squash is nicknamed the sweet potato squash, since it’s similar in size. Winter squash is a good source of Vitamin A(in the form of beta-carotene), Vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and manganese. Source: WHFoods

• Ingredients:
• a 1 lb. delicata squash
• 1 pear sliced, and 1 persimmon sliced(or 2 pears)
• 3-4 slices of bacon                            
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
• 1 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• 2-3 tablespoons of Chicken Stock or Water

Preheat oven to 425* F. Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds. Cut squash into 1/4th inch slices. In a bowl mix together squash, sliced fruit, salt and pepper. You can either place the mixture onto a cooking sheet or place it in a casserole dish. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until tender, stirring once or twice. Next step is to cook the bacon, you can either cook it in a pan, or bake it in the oven. If you bake it in the oven, take 2-3 teaspoons of the fat that’s collected and place it into a large skillet, if you prepare the bacon in the skillet, remove the bacon once cooked and leave the bacon fat in there. Over medium heat stir in chicken stock/water, chili powder, and maple syrup. Add the squash and fruit, toss to coat and cook until the liquid becomes syrupy. Crumble the bacon on top.

Not the best picture, but very tasty.

This dish turned out really well, I had a friend over for dinner, and he probably would have eaten the entire dish, had I let him. It’s simple to make, and would be a great side dish for Thanksgiving.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.