Love winter squash, but hate the headache of chopping their super-hard flesh into pieces for roasting? (Not to mention the potential loss of precious fingers...) Faith mentioned a work-around in her recipe for Roasted Red Kuri Pumpkin and Coconut Soup that I thought was so good, so brilliant, so limb-saving that it needed a spotlight all its own.
Here it is: roast the squash whole. Just for the first twenty minutes or so until the flesh begins to soften. Then you take it out of the oven and slice it into halves, quarters, chunks, whatever you need. Another forty minutes in the oven will complete the roasting.
Sure, with this method you do have to contend with handling hot squashes. But this seems somehow preferable to me than trying to throw my body-weight against a sharp knife to cut into the un-cooked squash. You could certainly let the squash cool until you're able to handle it without scorching your fingertips. This would also make the squash easier to peel, if that's your aim.
This works for butternut squash, pumpkins, acorn squash, and any variety of hard-fleshed winter squash you pick up during your grocery shopping. Like I said, pretty brilliant, right?
Related: How to Eat Half a Squash for Dinner
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If you have a moderate sized squashes/pumpkins you might want to try my mom's trick - she microwaves her squashes/pumpkins for a minute or two to soften them up before cutting through them. They're not very hot (only warm to slightly hot) at that point, so easy to handle too!
Awesome.
I love the tips like these... because they're often so smart and you would never ever think of them yourselves. Its so helpful with veggies that are relatively new to you!
Ooohh perfect, a scar on my thumb has too long brought back a terrifying memory of raw squash cutting!
I use a cheap cleaver and a something wooden to tap it through. Works like a charm and doesn't take much effort.
I too hate cutting squashes, especially really tough ones like pumpkin. Sounds so silly, but there have been times I literally couldn't get it cut and abandoned it with the knife hopelessly stuck halfway through until my stronger husband came home to finish the job. I love the idea of softening it up first!
With very hard squashes like Hubbard, I put them into a very large Ziploc bag and throw them from my porch onto my front walk. They smash, stay in the bag, and I get my aggressions out. Plus, the bag can be rinsed and reused.
@claritygolden, so embarrassing--I have done the same! Uh, honey...could you extract the chef's knife from the, yeah, that one. Dinner will be a tad late...
Smashing it is brilliant! It's not like it would shatter into small pieces, at least based on looking at the poor pumpkin that was smashed on my street last night -- nice big chunks perfect for roasting :)
I just cut them in half, deseed and roast like that. Maybe 30 minutes later scoop out the good parts, chop them rough, add whatever seasoning I'm using and back on the pan they go for final 20 minutes or so.
Learned this the hard way after trying to peel and cube a butternut squash.
This is probably not a safe tactic, but I use the long skinny part of my knife sharpener to punter the squash a bunch of times in various places. Then I just put it in a baking pan with about an inch of water (for added steam) and bake it in the oven for an hour at 450.
I'd be very cautious with this method. The squash may explode in the oven. Yikes!
I've been wanting to soak the butternut squash in some granny smith apple juice and then bake it. Bet it would be mad good that way.
Yes, poke your squash all over with a sharp skewer or a fork first, otherwise you really do run the risk of a squash explosion!
As it heats up, the steam inside the squash will generate pressure that can't escape through the outer skin. A few puncture holes will help relieve the pressure.
I cut it in half take out the seeds and put in the oven for 1:30hrs at 400s put it on a rack with a little piece of aluminum foil on the top so that it doesn't dry out then when it's done i take out the flesh with a spoon comes out really easily and i put into a frying pan with a little butter smash it all down and put couple of gloves of garlic and a big nut of ginger and when it's done it toss in a couple of green onions(shallots) and Voila!! Learnt that from the frugal goumet on PBS over 25yrs ago!!
Just did this a couple days ago with spaghetti squash and it worked just fine. Don't know why anyone would cut them before roasting. PLUS you don't have to use oil to keep the flesh from burning.
I second the microwave idea - I do this with all hard squashes, making sure to prick them all over first to avoid explosions. Soften them up, then slice and de-seed, and roast until nice and golden brown. If I'm in a hurry I'll even nuke a spaghetti squash all the way (about 11 mins) for my faux pasta bolognese. Tasty!
do you peel it before putting it in the oven or after, or not at all? anyone?
I always split the squash in half and roast in two halves in the oven. I take it out when it's done, scoop it out of the flesh, season and serve.
I love this idea, but strongly echo the warning about exploding an unvented squash, particularly in the microwave. But I'll be trying this after poking a single hole to the core, much easier than doing a through cut.
My recipe for winter squash is to cut off the top, scoop out seeds and pulp, then add a TBSP each of butter and brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of curry powder. Replace the top and microwave for about 10 minutes. Scoop out the flesh and stir to distribute the awesome flavors.