Copyright 2009 by Ozarkhomesteader. See details on fair use at the end of the post.
Acorn squash is a wonderful, sweet nugget packed with nutrients to keep you healthy through the winter. Its high natural sugar content is both a gift and a curse for cooks. Should you highlight the sweetness or bring out the savory? Today I’m bringing out the savory by melding the flavors of French onion soup with the winter squash. For two people you’ll need
- 1 acorn squash, cut in half and seed scooped out (Retain for later roasting.)
- 1 red onion
- 1 sweet yellow onion
- a little olive oil
- chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
- dried bread cubes, equal to one or two slices (If you don’t have any on hand, cut bread into cubes and dry in an oven on the lowest heat setting possible.)
- one or two ounces gruyere, swiss or other sweet, nutty cheese, grated
Begin by placing the acorn squash, cut side up, in a casserole dish or cast iron Dutch oven. Fill the cavity where the seed used to be with water, put a lid on the casserole/Dutch oven, and back the squash at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. (I also sprinkled with a little spicy seasoning.)
Meanwhile, thinly slice the onions and toss in a little olive oil. When the acorn squash comes out of the oven, reduce the heat to 325 degrees, and put in the onions for about 20 minutes.
Being careful not to penetrate the acorn squash rind, scoop out the luscious orange flesh.
When the onion is roasted, mix it in with the squash flesh and add a bit of chicken broth to get the whole thing moving. Put the flesh-onion-broth mixture in the squash rinds and add enough broth, stirring to mix as you add, to bring the mixture almost to the rim of the rind. (If you have extra flesh mixture, that’s okay. Just set it aside for a snack on another day.)
Now add the dried bread cubes.
Finally sprinkle on the cheese. 
Put back in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melting and the mixture underneath is hot. Serve and enjoy!
If you prefer a soupier mix, you have two choices. You could use bigger bowls than the squash rinds. You could also set aside more of the pumpkin-onion mix for a snack and add in more broth. At our home, though, we liked this dish best with a thick consistency, more like a savory English pudding than soup.
Copyright 2009 by Ozarkhomesteader. I always appreciate good press. You are welcome to excerpt a tiny portion of this post. Be sure to include the full URL as well as the credit to Ozarkhomesteader.
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