Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Squash Puree

To make squash puree, halve and seed one medium acorn or butternut squash. Place, cut-side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until soft, about 50 minutes. Cool, then scrape out the flesh with a fork or spoon.

You can use this right away or freeze it. Defrost before you use it. The squash will seperate and just mix it back together.

Stir this into soups to thicken broth, use it in place of pureed pumpkin in desserts, add it to bean or meatloafs, and you can even mix it into your favorite mac and cheese recipe.

Squash Tea Bread

Ingredients
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
¾ cup squash puree (See post on making Squash puree)
½ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
¼ cup canola oil
1 large egg 1 egg white

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice and cloves in a medium bowl until combined.
Beat squash puree, sugar, honey and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and egg white. Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined. Scrape into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake the bread until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes more. Serve warm.

Adapted Eatwell magazine