A Party In my pantry

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons to cook, mainly because I love squash. Acorn squash has a sweet, nutty flavor, and it only becomes more enhanced when roasted with maple syrup. I place water in the pan as it acts similar to a steam oven and helps to keep the squash from drying out. Since cutting acorn squash is not an easy task, I often ask the produce department at our grocery store to cut and seed the squash.

Ingredients

• 3 Acorn Squash, cut in half
• 5 tbsp + Butter
• 6 tsp+ Maple Syrup
• 6 pinches of Brown Sugar
• 6 dashes of Cinnamon
• Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Microwave the whole squash for 1 minute to soften the skin. Cut squash in half from the tip of the stem down and clean out the seeds and stringy pieces. Cross-hatch the flesh with a knife, careful not to pierce the skin.

Fill a glass pyrex pan with an inch of water and place the squash in, cut-side up. Add a pad of butter into the center of each squash, roughly 1/2 a tbsp for each half. In a small bowl, melt an additional 2 tbs of butter and brush the melted butter on the top of the exposed flesh of the squash. Add a small amount of brown sugar & 1 tsp maple syrup to each squash, mix them into a paste and spread all around the inside cavity of the squash. Season with salt and a pinch of cinnamon.

Roast until the squash flesh is very easily pierced through with a fork and browning, about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the squash. Sprinkle with additional salt and maple syrup, as desired. Serve hot.