Winter Squash

In the past few years I've begun to experiment with winter squash. We didn't eat winter squash at all when I was growing up. Pumpkins were for carving! And the thought of eating hard squash brought back hungry memories of my parents' childhood in Japanese occupied Hong Kong.

Winter squash gets a bit of a bad rap. It's one of those veggies that people either love or hate. I think it's like the old fish deal: people don't like it because they just haven't eaten it done properly!

I am currently going through a squash phase. I've been cooking different variations of winter squash soups (like pumpkin soup with truffle oil), butternut squash lasagne, pumpkin almond tart (from local organic sugar pumpkins!) and I've tried roasting different types of hard squash.

Besides the wonderful variety of flavours and textures, I think one of my attractions to winter squash is the fact that squash is a seasonal vegetable available locally. Buying, cooking and enjoying it supports the "eating closer to home" mentality and supports local sustainable agriculture.