Oven Roasted Kabocha Squash

It's official.  I love love love kabocha squash.  It's like candy for me.  Not too long ago I made my first kabocha squash dish, kabocha squash gnocchi, and I loved it.

More recently I decided to try simply roasting it in the oven, sprinkling it with a bit of sea salt, pepper, and truffle oil.  This stuff, I really could not stop eating.  It tastes good warm, cold out of the fridge . . . it's a fantastic healthy snack if you're just craving a little bite to eat.  In fact, more than once, I found myself sneaking a few slices of this stuff right before midnight.

How funny . . sneaking slices of kabocha squash as if it were cookies or something.

But really, it's so good.  And sadly, the last time I went to the market, I didn't see them anymore.  Is the season already over?

Kabocha squash definitely takes a bit of muscle to cut (please be careful and use a heavy cleaver if you have one!).  The skin is perfectly fine to eat, so no need to peel it!  Just make sure you always put the FLAT side of the squash down whenever cutting.  It's much safer that way!

To ensure evenness in cooking time, try to make the slices all the same thickness.

Oven Roasted Kabocha Squash
1 kabocha squash
¼ tsp salt
pepper (to taste)
2 T vegetable oil
truffle oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut up one kabocha squash into 1-cm thick slices.  You can optionally remove the skin, but there is really no need to remove it.  It's totally edible and is quite soft once roasted.  Lay the pieces in one layer on a pan.  Drizzle with vegetable oil (enough to light cover - about 2 tablespoons) and toss until all sides of the squash are covered with some oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss, and then roast for about 20 minutes, or until soft.

Optional: you can easily make a puree just by mashing up the roasted squash with a fork, which is what I did. I pressed the puree into a small triangular mold for the picture.  I did not even remove the skin, which is why you see little green bits in my puree.

Enjoy!