Maple Glazed Acorn Squash

Here's a recipe I found on the website Food Wishes. Chef John has a great site chock full of recipes, videos, and lots of wonderful humor. I urge you to set aside several hours when you visit because you'll be tempted to click video after video after video - believe me, I know.

So anyway, I had this acorn squash sitting around and decided to give it the Chef John treatment - oven roasted with a touch of fresh orange juice and glazed with a butter, brown sugar, maple syrup glaze - hello.

Preheat oven to 400F. CAREFULLY cut the acorn squash and scrape out the seeds. Hint - you can stabilize the squash in your impeccably clean sink drain if you're nervous about it moving around while you try to cut it in half. You can also bunch up a tea towel and make a well to nest the quash in. Also, Chef John shows how to slowly and carefully cut and score the squash in his video.

Okay, now you carefully score the inside of the squash with 1/4-inch deep score marks; do this in a crisscross fashion. Place the squash in a baking dish and brush with freshly squeezed orange juice. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and bake for 30 minutes.

At the end of 30 minutes, make the glaze by combining the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and cayenne in a non-stick pan over med-high heat.

Bring to a boil for 1 full minute.

Brush the glaze all over the squash and return them to the 400F oven for 40 minutes. If your glaze starts to firm up before you use it, return it to the heat for just a moment.

When done, allow the squash to sit for a few minutes. The glaze will thicken as it pools in the bottom of each squash half; redistribute the glaze, season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Lunch for me.


and....
(warning for those who don't like cute little critters)

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...lunch for DD's hamster too!

Maple Glazed Acorn Squash
recipe makes 1 - increase as needed

1 acorn squash, cut in half and seeded
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
sprinkle of Kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup (the real stuff please)
itty-bitty pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Score halved squash and brush with freshly squeezed orange juice and sprinkle lightly with Kosher Salt. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Make glaze by combining the maple syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cayenne; boil for a minute and brush on squash halves. Return to oven for another 40 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve.