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I haven't tasted a winter squash since last April. Between October and April we eat a lot of winter squash and by spring are ready to enjoy the lighter vegetables. All summer we dine on salads, greens, tomatoes, green beans, peas, buying endless bunches of green onions, basil, parsley.
But now I find myself unable to resist, at the Junction Market, a medium-sized Hubbard squash. The Hubbard is my second favourite squash, the favourite being Kabocha for its dense, smooth, sweet bright orange flesh. The Hubbard I am drawn to for the colour of its shell—almost seafoam green, a pale blue/grey/green—and for its size. A Hubbard can be bigger than a full-sized Halloween pumpkin, and it is made even more striking by that unexpected pale blue shell.
Supermarkets and farmers' roadside stands alike often hack the Hubbard into more manageable chunks—the size of half a loaf of bread, say—since few people these days are ready to deal with that giant ghostly-looking winter squash.
The one I found at the market is the size of a large football (American football), and the tapered stem end reinforces the comparison. When I got it home I discovered that it weighs nine pounds—no wonder the shopping cart was so hard to pull.
It sits still in the wooden bowl where I keep apples, ripening avocados, and pears. The Hubbard dominates the bowl. Soon I'll have to deal with it.
I bought it earlier than I should have, just because it caught my eye and reminded me of autumn. I need to get my fill of tomatoes, peaches, and the summer pattypans before I bite the bullet and give in to the coming months of apples and winter squash.
So some day this week I'll whack it open, remove the seeds, and roast it, cut side down, until I can plunge a fork through the skin and into the flesh. Then I'll let it cool, peel off the pretty blue rind, and freeze the orange flesh in two-cup batches ready for soups, casseroles, patties, fritters, and pies as the weather cools. I expect to get a lot of usable squash flesh from my Hubbard.
If I don't find another at the market before it closes at the end of October, then I'll move on to my real favourite, the Kabocha, which is available in more and more places throughout the winter. As a last resort I'll buy a butternut, especially when it has a long neck that can so easily be sliced into rounds that I'll gently sauté in butter. I'll use the round end for soup, because butternut, though my third-place squash, does make a good soup.
For sure, however, I won't be putting my money down for an acorn, that stringy tasteless squash whose only attraction is the cute name and the ruffled shape.
Musings blog: http://www.scenesfromthejourney.blogspot.com
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