Simple, Good Food from Fresh Ingredients: Roasted Honeynut Squash

In my recipe index, you’ll find foods that most people buy processed and packaged today: crackers, bread, broths, nut milk, hummus, ginger beer, yogurt, ketchup, vinegar, tahini, pickles, pickled peppers, pasta—those difficult-to-find foods for anyone trying to reduce their plastic footprint.

I also include many recipes for ingredients that would otherwise go to waste—scrap vinegar made from fruit peels and cores, candied citrus peels, watermelon rind pickles, vegetable broth from bits and pieces left over from food prep, fried potato peels, various baked goods made from unfed sourdough starter…you get the idea.

So I don’t usually post recipes for something like a vegetable side dish. You can cook that without waste easily enough—buy some loose vegetables to roast, steam, toss in a salad…

In this post, however, I want to prove Julia Child’s point. To cook delicious food:

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients.

Max and Jeremy of Chasing Tomorrow, two delightful French documentary film makers focused on sustainability, came shopping with me yesterday at the farmers market in Palo Alto. The duo travel the globe to—in their words—“document the pioneers shaping the world, for our tomorrow.” Check out their YouTube channel here. They do incredible work.

After we shopped, we headed to my place where they interviewed me (does this make me a pioneer?), snacked on kimchi, ate sourdough bread (we polished it off), sampled kombucha, and drank mead. I don’t like to brag, but French people raved about my food. Jeremy said he could eat my bread all day long and Max said my mead was the best drink he’d ever tasted (!).

After the interview, Max and Jeremy prepped and roasted the small honey nut squash we picked out at the market—this week’s new-to-me food (every week I look for one).

The squash tasted fabulous—caramelized with an intensified flavor, chewy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. I made more last night using a small butternut squash and MY DAUGHTER C ATE IT! She loathes squash.

As a baby, my daughter MK turned orange from eating so many carotene-rich foods like squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. I love this dish so much, I think the same thing might happen to me.

Roasted Squash with Garlic, Thyme and Cumin

Ingredients

• 2 small honey nut or butternut squash (about 1 pound each)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Peel the squash and cut lengthwise into slices a scant 1/4 inch thick. Remove the seeds. Arrange the slices in a single layer in a glass baking dish.

2. Drizzle with the olive oil. Flip the slices over to evenly coat by swirling them around in the oil. Flip over to evenly coat the other side.

3. Sprinkle on the finely chopped garlic, thyme, cumin seeds and salt.

4. Roast at 350ºF for about 40 minutes or until browned and tender.

To cook delicious food, you also don’t have to be French. But it can’t hurt 😉

Bon appétit!