Every season has it’s own special treasures. Fall has many, including the abundance of all different kinds of squash. I had big plans for these little guys when I picked them up at the farmers market last week. I thought of making a soup with some pears or apples. I even thought of making some quinoa, mixing it with cubes of roasted squash and using the shells as bowls. That would be tasty and really cute, right?
I roasted the squash in the morning while getting the kids ready for school. Just sliced them in half, scooped out the seeds and put them in the oven for 45 minutes. I hesitated to throw out the seeds. I decided to roast them too. I tossed the seeds with olive oil and this beautiful Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt I got from Olive and Swank. I love pepitas. I figured they would be a nice garnish for whatever dish I chose to make.
Sure enough, the morning got crazy. It was midday before I could even begin to think of a recipe to create with these beauties. I started to taste the squash with the pepitas and I couldn’t stop eating it. I threw a little cranberry on top too. What an amazing snack! The cranberries bring out the natural sweetness of the squash and the pepitas with black lava sea salt are so delicious in contrast with the sweetness. They also add a really nice crunch.
I decided to share this recipe with you as is and let you choose if you want to transform it into something else or eat it as is. You can use any specialty salt for the pepitas if you can’t find black lava. Enjoy!
- 2 small squash (I used acorn and sweet dumpling), sliced in half and seeded (clean and reserve seeds for pepitas)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 Tbl olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ½ tsp Black Lava Sea Salt, or other specialty salt
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place squash, skin side down, on foil-lined baking sheet
- Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven, about 45 minutes, until tender
- In the meantime, (and if you have another oven...I used my toaster oven), toss the seeds with 1 Tbl of olive oil and the black lava or other specialty salt and roast it at 275 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned
- Allow to cool and toss with the dried cranberries
- Remove the squash from the oven and serve the halves with the pepitas and cranberries as garnish
- Dig in!
