
Who says squash has to be sliced or diced into strips or boring cubes? Roasted squash tastes perfectly delicious when sliced thin and formed into a beautiful blossom for your table. In fact, it might even taste better because it looks so pretty. Besides, who doesn’t like to see flowers on the table?
Recently, I came into a ginormous box of squash (insert weird comment here). It turns out, I won an impromptu contest by using my menial Photoshopping skills combined with some unusual vegetables. Melissa’s Produce decided to reward my goofiness with various types of winter squash…hence this recipe.
I’m a big fan of roasted vegetables, as you well know, and squash is one of the most perfect vegetables for that high heat oven. In fact, that’s pretty much how everyone cooks them considering that most squash varieties are hard as rocks and a little too big to simply drop in a pot and steam. Am I right? What else is there besides roasted squash?
You’re probably pretty familiar with butternut squash or the increasingly popular kobacha squash, but you may not be as familiar with delicata squash. These squash still have a thick skin, like most squash, but when roasted…you can actually eat the delicata’s skin without feeling like you’re gnawing bark off a tree. It’s actually quite good. So…since you can eat the skin, you’ve got less prep work to do (no peeling required). Delicata squash is also a bit easier to handle than some other winter squashes. It’s long and narrow-ish and not quite as hard to cut through. Again, this makes preparing it a lot easier. Delicata squash isn’t quite as sweet as butternut or acorn squash so it lends itself to all kinds of seasonings (which makes it pretty versatile). This is a good thing when you’re trying to figure out what flavors to pair with your main course.
If you’ve got kids who don’t like to eat vegetables (this goes for those picky adults too), making food into fun shapes and designs seems to take the edge off eating those not so favorite foods. This squash blossom would also be gorgeous on your Thanksgiving table. Just imagine walking into your family dinner and plopping this beautiful dish on the table (no one has to know how easy it is to make). As far as vegetable side dishes are concerned, this one tastes as good as it looks too. I promise there won’t be any leftovers.
This really is an easy recipe and it doesn’t take forever to put together either. Another plus is that you can make this squash blossom as big or as small as you like. For a big group you can make one big one (I’d use a large oven safe skillet or quiche pan) or make 2 – 3 smaller one’s to place in various spots on the table. If you don’t want to make one large one, you could also make individual blossoms in ramekins. It’s up to you. I made this one in an 8″ round baker I had. I was going to use my quiche pan, but it was a lot bigger than what I needed for the two of us.
Oh, while I highly recommend you try this with the delicata squash (aren’t those colors pretty?) You can also make other kinds of roasted vegetable blossoms. Just make sure that you can eat the skins on whichever vegetables you choose to use.
- 2 Medium Onions (sliced thin)
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil (divided)
- 2 Delicata Squash
- 2 Large Cloves Garlic (grated)
- ½ Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Maple Sugar
- Heat half of the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.
- Once oil is hot, add onions.
- Cook onions until they are slightly browned and softened. Stir occasionally. This should take about 8-10 minutes. If they are browning too fast, reduce the heat and add a tablespoon of water. You want the onions soft.
- Remove onions from heat when done.
- While onions are cooking, cut the squash in half (lengthwise) and remove the seeds.
- Trim the squash ends and slice into thin half moons (about ⅛" thick).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
- Spoon onions into 8" oven proof pan and spread evenly.
- Top onions with sliced Delicata squash pieces. Begin arranging slices skin side up along the outside edge of the pan. Overlap the slices and continue arranging them in circles until you get to the middle and there is no more room to add any more.
- Pour remaining olive oil into a small dish and add the garlic, thyme, salt and black pepper. Whisk to combine.
- Brush the herbed oil mixture over top of the squash slices and make sure to coat the surfaces well.
- Lightly sprinkle the top of the dish with maple sugar.
- Slide into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until squash slices have softened to your desired consistency.
- Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.
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What a lovely display! Squash is my favorite but never did it look SO good!
Thank you for the sweet compliment!
Hi Betsy,
Cooking it longer or cutting the slices thinner would be the two ways to make the skins a bit softer. You could also peel the squash if you want to eliminate the skins completely.
It is delicious. Anyone have a problem with the skin still being a bit tough? I put it in a little longer, maybe cover with foil for a bit?
I just made this as a trial for a Thanksgiving side. I used a deep dish glass pie pan. Is there some way to make the skins softer? It is delicious, but I put it in a little longer to soften the skin. Thanks!
I have an old cast iron deep kettle, and will use that to cook this. I ahve very picky wife, and even pickyer relatives, so thanksgiving is always a challenge!!
Look forward to baking this, as i LOVE all kinds of squashes, and since i have a very long growing season here, eat a lot, even tho my wife is only a sometimes fan of squashes, ( she likes zucchini, and my “flying saucer” squash aka; green squash, recipes, so the others must follow soon!
Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you Steve….good luck with the picky eaters. Just remember…what they don’t eat means more good stuff for you. 🙂
Gorgeous blossom! I love anything I don’t have to peel and I’ll take your word that it doesn’t take long to arrange 🙂 Thanks for contributing it to our Thanksgiving sides roundup, Pamela.
Thanks Priscilla. It really doesn’t take that long to arrange. And thanks for including me. 🙂
It doesn’t take forever to make that beautiful blossom? When I read the title of the post I thought, “roasted blossom? wouldn’t that end up in a pile of goo in the oven?”
I love this and I’m going to try it for Thanksgiving.
Hi Maureen,
It really doesn’t take much time at all to make it. In fact, it takes more time to cut up the squash than to arrange it into the blossom. I kinda did that post title on purpose. 😉 LOL Can’t wait to hear what you think.
Hey Pam, I will try this recipe as I have some vegans coming over this Friday night.
And above all, looks delicious !!!
Thanks Ray, hope you all enjoy it!
Wow, I love this and it’s as beautiful to look at as it is for you.
Thanks Georgie!
I was trying to come up with something that looked pretty and would convince non-squash eaters to try it. 🙂
Love this recipe, thanks! I accidentally discovered Delicata Squash by planting in the garden what I thought was acorn squash only to find a yellow long squash with thin green lines and orange spots. After looking this up and finding it was quite normal : ) we roasted one and fell in love with its flavor. Look forward to trying this recipe
That’s a lucky accident. I’ve got a volunteer squash that came up in the garden this year. No idea what it is…but will be cooking it up anyway. LOL
that is gorgeous!!!
Thanks Crista!
We would absolutely love this! I enjoy using my old skillets for all kinds of yummy dishes, but this is beautiful as well. The maple sugar sounds perfect in the mix!
Kelly, this is a great recipe to break out those “not used enough” old skillets and pans. 🙂
Wow, what an awesome blossom!
Thanks Adair!
It’s a bit healthier than that onion blossom thingy too. 😉