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Roasted Delicata Squash with Ratatouille & Queso Blanco

September 10, 2009

The delicata squash I received from my CSA was relatively small and harmless looking, so I was surprised by how hard I had work to get my chef’s knife down the middle of it! J. would have had a heart attack had he witnessed my knife skills last night. I did finally split it in half lengthwise, and scooped out the seeds. I plopped the halves flesh-down on a baking sheet misted with non-stick cooking spray, and roasted them in my toaster oven at 400° F for about 40 minutes. The cut side got beautifully dark and caramelized, and the sweet smell of the squash wafting through the house as it cooked made it feel like Thanksgiving.

I’d thrown together some Slow Cooker Ratatouille a few weeks ago with random vegetables from my farm share, including carrots, eggplant, peppers, onions, and of course, tomatoes. I defrosted about a cup of it, and topped the cooked squash with that and some small cubes of queso blanco.

I’d intended to try some ricotta salata on top, but I was at a different supermarket than usual, and they didn’t have any. They do, however, have a lot of Hispanic customers so there was a wide variety of cheeses to choose from that I don’t normally see. I picked queso blanco, which is light and fresh, pure white as the name suggests, with a tiny bit of squeak when you bite into it, like Indian paneer. I liked it, even though it didn’t melt well when I put the cheese-topped delicatas under the broiler. They wound up looking like I topped them with roasted mini marshmallows, don’t they?

J. and I both enjoyed the end result, although billing it as “pizza squash” did nothing to entice my eldest to try it. I never see delicata squash around my market, so unless I get another one from my CSA I’m sorry to say that’s it for the year. I would have liked to have been able to make Maple-Glazed Delicata Squash Rings for Rosh Hashanah again.

Filed under: CSA,Veggie Mains,Veggie Sides

Tags: cooking, csa, farm share, Maple Glazed Delicata Squash Rings, mini, Rosh Hashanah, Slow Cooker Ratatouille