I know a few of you out there are on box schemes.... If you are not let me tell you they are a wonderful and great way to try new and exciting veggies and support local agriculture and small business. (New post about this soon.)
So the only problem that arises is what to do with some of these odd little foods that make their way into your box. I have of late been surprised by more squash types than I knew existed. I have been literally squashed by squash. Now the kind people at the farms usually include recipes, but sometimes you just want to know more. Well I do. So here is a bit about squash types in the UK.
So go on branch out from the usual. There is more to squash than pumpkin pie -though to be fair they had a lovely maple and pumpkin pie recipe on
www.waitrose.com! I meanwhile will find something to do with my Crown Prince squah and my cavalo negro blistered leaf kale!
SquashesElisabeth Luard tells the story of pumpkins and squashes and discovers there is much more to them than spooky-faced lanterns and fairytale transport. Photographs by David Loftus.
Pumpkins and squashes - edible gourds, great globes of green and gold which litter the fields in autumn long after the leaves have withered - are the raw material of fairytale. Where would Cinderella be without her coach, the goblin without his perch, the witch without her lantern? But, the culinary reputation of these fruits of the Cucurbita family is less romantic. Many a pumpkin, hollowed out for Hallowe'en, has found itself dumped ingloriously in the rubbish bin. A pity, since its soft, sweet flesh makes the most exquisite soup, a delicate stuffing for pasta, or an unctuous filling for a pie.
Pumpkins and squashes are New World natives, unknown in the Old World till long after our culinary habits were formed. European cooks didn't concern themselves with inventing new dishes, they simply slipped the new material into their existing repertoire. The Nordics popped them in the soup-pot, the Germans wrapped them in a dumpling and the French slipped them in the garbure. The sybaritic Turks, on the other hand, candied them in syrup and ate them with walnuts and rose water. Those who cooked with olive oil, did just that with them and added a little garlic. There is a sublime Welsh recipe (from the Gower Peninsula, as I remember) that requires the filling of a hollowed-out pumpkin with double cream. This is then baked until the flesh melts to an exquisitely creamy mush, and is eaten straight from the shell with a spoon - close your eyes and dream.
In its native land, preparation was more workmanlike, a matter of boiling or roasting. Succotash, one of the few survivors of America's endemic cuisine, is a simple combination of three good things which shared the pre-Colombian bean-patch - sweetcorn, haricot and pumpkin, seasoned with chilli and sauced with butter.
In general, the varieties match their names. The gem squash is small and round. The onion squash is onion-shaped, just right for stuffing and the crown prince is a blue-grey colour with a contrasting interior of regal gold. Spaghetti squash explains itself: the flesh, once cooked, falls into pasta-like strings - the Spaniards know it as angel-hair and use it to make a sticky-sweet preserve.
Now for the practicalities. Which variety to choose for what? As a very general rule, the soft-skinned, tender-fleshed varieties - such as gem, acorn, onion and spaghetti - are best for soups, boiling and saucing with cream. The hard-skinned, dense-fleshed varieties - such as crown prince, pumpkin and butternut - make the firmest pie-fillings, the richest of stuffings for pasta and caramelise deliciously when roasted. Fortunately for those of us confused by choice, the culinary characteristics remain true to type: all the squashes, regardless of their shape or size (with the exception of the spaghetti squash - a law unto itself), can be substituted in any recipe for any other.
Just to make the choice a little more exciting, the squash family are a promiscuous bunch, vigorously cross-breeding to ensure a stream of multi-coloured offspring of every shape and size. How else to explain the peculiarity of the grooved and globular acorn or the bulbousness of the butternut, narrow at one end and plump at the other, like a half-inflated balloon? Even within a variety, no two fruits are identical.
Like all vines, the species is robust, capable of sucking moisture from the most inhospitable of soils - a water-hoarder, the plant equivalent of the camel's hump. Growers will tell you that all squashes like it warm and sandy, and, above all, they don't like frost. This is one good reason why, unless cooked and puréed, the family doesn't take well to freezing. However, winter squashes, harvested when fully ripe, can be kept in a cool place over the winter without spoiling. Victorian household manuals instruct that a pumpkin - uncut, with its stalk still attached - will keep in the potting shed from autumn through to spring.
In addition to their culinary virtues, squashes are also good for you. They are high in fibre and generous providers of vitamins and minerals, containing as much beta-carotene as carrots. Recent research even suggests that there is a connection between the eating of certain species - such as kabocha, acorn, gem - and a decrease in heart-disease, premature ageing and cancer. And, since squashes require little in the way of fertiliser, growers are able to convert to organic production relatively easily, which means these versatile gourds are not only delicious but wholesome, too.
Squashes: The Lowdown
Pumpkin, butternut and crown prince are winter squash, hard-skinned, firm-fleshed and storable. Acorn, gem and spaghetti are summer squash, with softer skin and more watery flesh they do not store as well. Onion, although really a winter squash, has the soft flesh of the summer types
PUMPKINA firm-fleshed winter squash, it is a good keeper until cut, when it should be used or cooked and frozen within a week.
If using as a vegetable, cook to a mush, drain very well, dry over the heat, and beat with butter, cream and nutmeg. For use as a pie filling, pumpkin purée needs to be thoroughly drained - hang overnight in a cloth to drip. Pumpkin goes well with apples. Try a few chunks in apple pie or diced apple in pumpkin soup. The seeds are edible, with a delicate nutty flavour (to prepare, rinse, spread on a baking sheet and dry in a low oven); use as a salad topping or add to a muesli mix.
BUTTERNUTA winter squash, harvested ripe, wonderfully sweet, earthy, buttery, texture close to potato. Keeps well. The globe end contains fluff and seeds, the cylinder end is usually solid - perfect for slicing thinly and griddling (or drench with icing sugar and blitz under the grill). Roast in its skin with garlic, rosemary and olive oil at a high heat until it softens and caramelises. Babies love it - cook in a little water, purée and freeze in small bags. Terrific in a pumpkin pie.
CROWN PRINCERoyalty - number one in the squash-fancier's lexicon and a great keeper. Perfect for roasting and holds its shape in a creamy korma. Moistens cakes, combines with eggs and cream for a sweet pie-filling or with cheese for a savoury quiche. Add to potato, peppers, onions, plum tomatoes and garlic for a winter ratatouille, or, for a quick first course, chunk, thread on to skewers with slivers of lemon, trickle with oil, sprinkle with oregano, grill and serve with tsatsiki.
ONION SQUASHA soft-fleshed squash, it only keeps for a few weeks. For a vegetarian main dish, chunk and boil till tender - 6-8 minutes, don't overcook - drain, fold into a creamy white sauce, top with cheese and grill until brown and bubbling. Alternatively, combine with one of the firm fleshed squashes, spice with chilli and roast with butter or oil. Good in a soupy Venetian risotto - the flesh melts to a fragrant mush.
ACORNA summer squash with tender skin and softer flesh than winter varieties. Has a faint flavour of chestnuts. Will keep for 4-5 months on a cool, dry shelf. If using as a vegetable, cube, cook in a little water, mash with butter and pepper and combine with puréed potato. To roast, slice into 1cm rings, dot with butter and bake in a medium oven until tender. To cook in the microwave: halve, deseed and place face-down in a little water, cook on full power for 8-11 minutes. Dice and stir into a hearty bean soup or hot-pot.
GEMA baby summer squash, neither hard nor soft but somewhere between. Use within a month. Just the right size for stuffing - slice off a lid, scoop out and fill with a mushroom risotto or any leftover savoury rice bound with egg and finished with cheese. Lovely quartered and roasted with thyme and served with roast pork or sliced and grilled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
KABOCHAA smallish squash, with a softish texture, keeps for 2-3 months. Suitable for soups, roasting, puréed to moisten cakes, or as a pie-filling. As a vegetable accompaniment, boil or mash with butter and cream, spice with ginger. In a soup, finish with orange juice and zest - all squashes have an affinity with orange. The related kabocha buttercup is used in the same way, but has a longer shelf-life.
SPAGHETTI SQUASHA summer squash, whose spaghetti-like strands only reveal themselves after cooking. Use within a month. To prepare, prick, cook whole for 40-60 minutes, cool, then scoop out seeds and fluff and fork up the strands. Served cold it makes a great oriental salad with baby green beans, dressed with sesame oil and rice-wine vinegar. To serve hot, treat like pasta, it's good baked in a tomato sauce and great in a gratin. For a more substantial dish mix with ribbon pasta.
This article was first published on Waitrose.com in September 2000
