Baked Squash
Last year, I bought a yellow squash from the farmers' market, located in the downtown. When I got bored one day, I turned it into a welcome sign. It survived about 9 months. Last week, I realized that it started to go bad, so I had to cook it ASAP.
When I was skinning it, it struck me why I started drawing pictures on it instead of cooking it. I hate skinning a squash. Everytime I skin a squash, I cut my fingers. This time it was my thumb.
In Istanbul, the sellers usually skin them. So when I go home, I just cut, or grate. It is easy, isn't it? Maybe canned squash is an option, even though the taste will be different. (Is there any canned squash by the way? I saw canned spinach, but cannot remember any squash.)
Other than the skinning phase, this dessert is easy to prepare, and it is healthy. It is a common dessert in Turkey, but not as popular as baklava or kataifi.
Couple of times I used pumpkin, however the taste was different. Maybe the pumpkins I used were not ripe enough.
Ingredients:
medium size squash (approximately 1.5 lbs)
1 - 1.5 cup of sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnut (optional, for serving)
1. Skin the squash and slice it into cubes. Put the slices to a baking dish, preferably a glass one.
2. Sprinkle sugar over the squash. You can adjust the sugar amount according to your taste. If you like heavier desserts like baklava use 1.5 cup or a little more.
3. Cover the dish with plastic film. Keep the dish at the room temperature overnight, or until the sugar melt with the squash water.
4. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C and cook the squash for half an hour, or until tender.
5. Serve it warm or chilled with chopped walnut.
Looks inviting.