Roasted Red Kuri Squash with Cinnamon and Nutmeg

Cinnamon and roasted squash, you said? Shouldn’t cinnamon go only on apples and sweets? No, it should not, at least not always. I was quite skeptical, too, when I saw cinnamon as a natural pairing with squash in one of my favorite books, The Flavor Bible by Karen A. Page and Andrew Dornenburg. This book is a great resource to understand better flavor combinations and pairings. It lists by ingredient, their most complementary foods. So, beyond apples, cinnamon was suggested also for red kuri squash. Strange… or delicious until you try!

Wait? Aren't cinnamon and nutmeg also the spices behind the famous pumpkin spice latter? Yes, you guessed it!

Cooking in the oven is not only easy but will also caramelize the sugars present in the squash, giving it an additional sweet under taste.

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• 1 red kuri squash (you can use a small pumpkin too, but squash will roast sweeter and creamier)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (brown or white)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons of Colza or high temperature resistant oil such as avocado, sunflower (not olive!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

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• Preheat your oven to 220°C.
• Cut the red kuri squash into around 8 pieces (beware of your fingers, the vegetable is quite hard) and remove the seeds. No need to peel the skin as this type of squash skin is very soft when cooked.
• Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of oil on top of the pieces of squash laid on a baking tray skin down.
• Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Add the salt and pepper to taste. Depending on the thickness of the squash, you might need to salt a bit more. When in doubt salt less and adjust later at the end of the cooking.
• Put in the oven for around 30min or until soft and slightly roasted (you should be able to cut it with a fork without a knife).