Autumn Cooking: Sweet Butter Roasted Acorn Squash

Acorn squash. You know it is autumn when the barrels of acorn squash appear at the market, along with the pimply, phallic gourds. I started fantasizing about roasting acorn squash last weekend, thinking about biting into that taunt, black skin. In my fantasy, the acorn squash was steamed soft. But in the real world, I wanted caramelization, bubbling brown sugar sapping up the soft orange innards.

I have no clue how to ascertain the ripeness of an acorn squash. It turns out that one of my squashes was a bit ripe, the other a bit dry and fibrous. Both were about to take a brown butter bath at 350 degrees, so no big deal really. Oh, I was inspired by this recipe and photo spread. (From the “Pioneer Woman” and her like million dollar kitchen.)

Earth Balance and brown sugar (still using vegan granulated and blackstrap molasses since I have ample regular sugar) and rosemary. Boom! A glorious spread. I can see this being fantastic atop a sliced yam. I used dry rosemary just to not have to make a trip. I’m sure it is much, much more fragrant with fresh rosemary.

After an initial roast, each wedge got a dollop of the sweet stuff, then back in the oven.

And that’s autumn on a plate.