This baked acorn squash with sherry and mushrooms is a little sweet, a little savory, and a lot tasty. It’s not quick, but it’s mostly hands-off & SO easy.
There are three words I’ve been hearing an awful lot of over the last month. Can you guess what they are? I’ll give you some hints: you’ll hear them in reference to a place that rhymes with car trucks, they’re most commonly heard in the fall, and apparently it’s a stereotypical white girl thing to be obsessed with them.
Have you guessed yet? Yep, you got it. Pumpkin spice latte (which, apparently, Starbucks is touting this year as “PSL”).
Now, if you are a pumpkin spice latte lover, I don’t mean to offend. I’ve never had one and I’m sure they are perfectly tasty. My big problem with them? NO PUMPKIN. That’s right. The pumpkin spice latte contains no pumpkin. Not even pumpkin flavoring. Just pumpkin pie spice flavors. Why don’t we just call it a spice latte, I ask? (I do love things pumpkin spice that actually contain pumpkin. Like these baked pumpkin spice donuts.
The reason that I have such an issue with this is that I adore pumpkin. Actually, I adore anything that resembles pumpkin in any way, with winter squashes being no exception (did you know that if you can’t find fresh pumpkin at your grocery store that butternut squash is a perfect substitute and that some stores even sell canned butternut squash puree alongside canned pumpkin puree?). When I saw these precious little acorn squashes at Grocery Bar, I had to scoop them up to make my grandmother’s baked acorn squash.
Like so many of the things that my grandmother made when I was a child, I didn’t eat the baked acorn squash. However, I remember the adults around the table eating it, the scooped out cavity where the seeds once were filled with sherried butter and sautéed mushrooms, the yellow-orange flesh yielding easily to their forks. I had no idea what they were eating or why they were eating it, but now I understand. Perfectly sweet and soft acorn squash, rich butter, the tang of sherry, and mushrooms cooked till tender? Yes, please. This is a surprisingly easy side dish if you can get past the tough skin (a mallet is helpful, though Philip just used my chef’s knife to pick up the squash and whack it against the cutting board) and the seeds (acorn squash doesn’t have that many, though). You can put the rest of your meal together while the squash bakes. We decided to go for a vegetarian meal, with basmati rice and creamed spinach to accompany the baked acorn squash.
Give my grandmother’s baked acorn squash recipe a try!
Mary
Yield: 6 servings
10 minPrep Time:
1 hrCook Time:
1 hr, 10 Total Time:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 small acorn squashes
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup dry sherry
- salt and pepper
- 1 ½ cups sliced button or cremini mushrooms
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the squashes in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Place the squashes in a large baking dish.
- In the cavity of each squash half, place 1 tablespoon butter, 2 teaspoons sherry, ? teaspoon salt, and a dash of black pepper. Cover each squash half tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until tender.
- When the squash is almost finished baking, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a 10-inch pan. Saute the mushrooms until soft. Divide the mushrooms among the squash halves and serve immediately.
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