Acorn Squash Pie

The other night I baked some acorn squash. When they were almost cooked, I turned them right side up on the baking sheet, and put a little butter and brown sugar in the hollow of each squash half, the way my mother used to cook them.

We ended up not eating them.

This evening I decided to make a quiche/pie out of the acorn squash. What follows is my own creation. It could use some tweaking, for sure, but it was delicious.

2 medium-sized acorn squash, halved, seeded, and baked.
1 pie crust, either store-bought or homemade
1 tsp. rosemary
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
4 eggs
Milk
Grated emmenthal or gruyère cheese

Preheat the oven to 375°F. (You might try a hotter oven).
Scoop the flesh from the acorn squash into a bowl. Mash it with the pressed garlic. Rub the rosemary between your palms to bring out the flavor, and mix it with the squash and garlic. (My squash contained some butter and sugar already. You may want to add a little of either, or both). Add the salt and pepper, and mix well.

Crack the eggs into a measuring cup. Add enough milk to make two cups. (This is a variation on Julia Childs's rule of one egg to 1/2 cup of milk for a quiche). Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add them to the squash mixture, and blend well.

Place the crust in a pie or quiche pan. I used a store-bought pâte feuilletée, or puff pastry, and just unrolled it into the pan on its parchment support. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. You can pre-bake the crust, but I usually don't. Instead, I spread a little grated cheese on the bottom of the crust. Spread the squash filling in the crust. Sprinkle a bit more gruyère on top, and bake. I'd love to be able to give you a specific time, but I forgot to look at the clock when I put the tart in the oven. 40 minutes is probably a good estimate. I'm also figuring that if you're reading this, you're enough of a foodie to know some quiche basics, or to know where to find them.

We ate this with red leaf lettuce dressed with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.

Bon appetit!

Comments

[Denise]

That looks sooooo delicious. (I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a food-is-my-porn person, hee hee!

Great minds must think alike--the other night I decided to make spaghetti squash, although the results were less than favorable. FYI--that may be the one and only food in the world that should be cooked in a microwave instead of an oven!

[bothenook]

yum. i'm always looking for new squash recipes, and it looks like i've found another! thanks.

[Dave Schuler]

Here's an off-the-wall suggestion. I make something very similar to this that includes blue cheese along with the squash.