Roasted Ambercup Squash
Roasted ambercup squash is one of my favorites. It's a medium-sized gourd with dense flesh and incredibly large seeds. It's quite similar to buttercup or calabaza squash with a bright orange hue and a warm depth of flavor. There are few things that aren't better with squash in them. Especially during the fall when all sorts of different varieties of squash are available. I like to put them into everything from pizza, pasta, and pie to macaroni & cheese, quinoa, and curry.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
- Aluminum Foil
- Oven
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 ambercup squash (or similarly dense squash or pumpkin)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut squash in half.
- Using a spoon, scoop out the innards to remove all of the seeds and stringy pieces. Reserve the seeds if you want to roast them for a fun snack.The "guts" are still edible, but can be texturally unpleasant. I will usually keep them to puree into soup or pet food. However, most people will discard them! Just make sure not to toss any seeds!
- Once you've cut in half and removed the innards from the squash, wrap in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet.I do this by getting a piece of foil long enough to wrap around the entire squash. Place squash face down in the center of the foil. Then, wrap the edges of the foil around to cover the squash completely.I didn't do this, but would highly recommend cutting the squash into fourths, instead of just halves! This would decrease the rather long cooking time for something this size.
- Bake for about 2 hours depending on size. Make sure to flip halfway through so that the squash sides are face up.This is the trickiest part about roasting squash: the size of the squash can drastically increase the cook time. You’ll know that they’re done when the flesh is soft and you can poke it with a fork without any resistance. It will vaguely resemble the consistency of potatoes before you mash them. The best thing to do is to cook them for an hour and then check them every 20 minutes after that until they’re cooked throughout.
- Let cool to the touch.You can also put the squash in the refrigerator or freezer to speed up this process. Just place it in a heat-safe bowl and place an oven mitt in between the bowl and any glass shelves. As the rapid change in temperature can crack and break.
- Remove skin and add squash to the food processor. It should peel off easily. If you like, you can get every bit of pumpkin out of it by scooping the remaining pumpkin out with a spoon.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- This also took absolutely forever to cook! You can cut them into quarters to speed up this time.
- For more tips and tricks to roasting squash, I have an entire article on The Fundamentals of How to Roast Pumpkins, Squash, & Other Gourds. This article more specifically pertains to the differences in varieties and my go-to recipe for smaller ones, like butternut squash and pie pumpkins.