My parents came to visit this weekend and with them brought 3 quarts of homemade dill pickles, a couple pounds of Mennonite cheddar cheese and 2 pints of frozen squash puree from their Fall garden. My mother is under the impression there is only one way to eat squash and that's by adding a ton of brown sugar and topping with marshmallows and baking it.
The mere thought of which makes me throw up. Literally.
So I told her I wouldn't be adding brown sugar or marshmallows to mine, but I thanked her just the same. She argued with me that that is what 'everybody' does with squash and there isn't anything else to do with it. One of the most delicious ways to serve the bright orange squash is in cream soups! But suffice to say that there a hundred other ways to prepare it. Here is another one of them. (Not what I'll be doing with my squash puree... I'm making soup out of that, but here is another idea just the same.)
Squash Stew with Pork
(crock pot)
1 1/2 lbs. banana, hubbard or even acorn squash cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium onion, sliced
1 c dry red wine
1 T worcestershire sauce
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 nutmeg, grated
1/4 c water
3 T Wondra flour for thickening
1 1/2 lb. boneless pork, cubed
Mix all together in a slow cooker or crock pot. Cook on low 8 hours or until the pork is tender. Do not stir but only once or twice half way through cooking because you don't want to break up the squash too much. Serve immediately.