Buttercup Squash Challenge

My cousin made some fantastic creamy buttercup squash for thanksgiving. I saw some at the market and tried to recreate it. If my mother was not on vacation I would have asked her for tactical advice before beginning the buttercup challenge. The next best thing would have been to ask my aunt. As I have made a tremendous number - at least for the grad school budget - of long distance phone calls so far this month (checking in with my grandfather) I decided to wing it without asking my Aunt for advice. I think the phone call might have been worth it.

The Adversary

The Tools. (For your personal enjoyment please note my bare foot at the bottom left, still stripey from my summer shoes.)

Round 1: Winner Paul (I couldn't get the thing cut in half, despite the Joy's advice to "cut slowly and deliberately".)
Round 2: Winner Laura. The nasty bits inside must be removed before roasting. If you've carved a pumkin, there is a good chance you have more than a passing acquaintance with this activity. (Warning, if you, like me, are alergic to raw squash you want to be careful doing this.)
Round 3: Winner Squash. What in all things holy happened while the squash was in the oven (at 400, for 40 mins, in 1cm of water in a pan covered with aluminium foil)? I have no idea. I think perhaps I over cooked it.


Round 4: Winner Squash (for obvious reasons, see photo below). The squash was very hard to remove from the peel and flaky and crumbly. I was surprised, because my cousin's squash was so creamy.

I finished off the squash by mashing it with a large quanity of butter, and some salt and pepper. Not bad, but nowhere near as good as my cousin's. But defeat in the final two rounds did not break my spirit, and I reflected on the challenge with a well earned bowl of yogurt and peacans.