Currently, if you were to walk into my kitchen you would see giant piles of dark green, orange, and stripped squash pretty much taking over the entire counter. It was my first year growing winter squash and I put in several plants of some of my favorite varieties, including several kinds of acorn and delicata. I later found out that these two are not the best keepers through the winter. Not like butternut squash, where if properly stored you can still be eating it several months from now. So, while these will still hold on for about a month or so, it means I have a lot of squash eating to do and unless I can make room in my freezer to store it, I’ll be needing to get creative with ways to prepare it. Or convince my husband why we need to buy a small freezer to put in our basement.
When in need of a little creative cooking inspiration I always turn to my favorite cookbooks. I was looking through a cookbook , when I came to his sweet potato wedges with lemongrass créme frîach. I’m a huge sweet potato lover and typically don’t go more than a week without roasting them this time of year, but I thought about the stack of squash I had and quickly realized they would make the perfect substitute.
Crazy as it sounds, I actually picked up a lemongrass plant in the early spring this year and placed it in a small pot (probably too small) by our back door. It quickly grew, but I brought it inside for the winter; we’ll see how it does. So I harvested a small stalk of the grass and combined it with the miso, ginger, yogurt and a few other pantry staples for a quick sauce that perfectly balances out the sweetness of the squash. I cut the squash lengthwise, so if you wanted, you could served the sauce on the side for dipping like fries, instead of pouring it over the top.
Delicata Wedges with Lemongrass Miso Ginger Sauce / serves 3-4
The lovely thing about delicata and sometimes acorn squash is that the skin is delicate enough to eat, so you can avoid peeling. You can replace any winter squash for the deliceta, just keep that in mind.
2 delicate squash
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon groung cumin
pinch of sea salt
for the sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon white miso
1/2-inch piece of ginger, minced
1 small stalk lemongrass, minced
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon soy sauce
small handful of parsley
Preheat oven 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat sheet.
Trim the ends off squash and slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out the insides then slice, lengthwise, into 1/4 – 1/2 inch pieces. Toss with the olive oil, coriander, cumin, and salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you can easily pierce with a fork and the edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
While the squash is cooking, prepare the sauce. Combine the yogurt and miso and mix until well combine. Stir in the ginger, lemongrass, rice vinegar, and soy sauce and set aside until serving.
Place the squash on a serving platter, drizzle with about 1/2 the yogurt sauce and sprinkle on the parsley. Serve with the remaining sauce on the side.