How to Cook Acorn Squash

Cooking any kind of vegetables takes patience and a good palate. These
squashes can be overcooked or undercooked therefore depending on the
time used and to the way you
cook various squashes is very
important. Whether you
marinate a squash, boil it or
roast it.

QuickTimeª and a One thing about boiling any

TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor vegetable you must always
are needed to see this picture. keep in mind to use very little
salted water, (except of
course potatoes which you
will use cold water to start)
and to cook them uncovered,
in order to not loose their
bright colors. Again keep in
mind not to overcook any vegetable the firmness needs to stay consistent
and I don’t think people like eat mushy vegetables. I sometimes use a
squeeze of lemon juice in the water to preserve its color.

When it comes to cooking these winter squashes remember they are usually
pretty firm so you want to parboil or blanch the vegetable in water before
using it. Regardless of whether you are going to sauté this squash or roast it.
You see the longer you cook any vegetable over high heat the mushier it
gets. Therefore par-boiling (this means boiling the vegetables for no more
than 12-15 minutes prior to cooking it) poke it with a fork and make sure it is
still firm As far as rice we Italians consider it to be an energy food, its light
and extremely nutritious. There are many various types of rice, from semi-
fine, super-fine or fine, and this is all according to the grain. The common
variety is usually used for soups. The semi-fine ones are used for antipastos.

Today I am going to show you how to make Acorn Squash risotto the things
you will need to prepare this are the following ingredients:

Ingredients
• 3 acorn (cleaned and par boiled)
• 6 oz of butter
• 1 small onion chopped
• ½ (or 4 fluid ounces) of white wine
• 4 cup of Chicken broth or 3 bouillon cubes
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 7 sprigs of fennel greens (chopped)
• Fresh ground pepper.

Cooking your Acorn

Place your acorn in a pan with 1 tbs. of butter add a dash of salt place the
cover and cook for about 20 minutes on low heat. Once this dries a bit add
another tablespoon of butter. (Put this aside since you will be adding it to the
risotto once you have finished cooking the risotto.)
Sauté the onion in butter until it’s soft. Add the risotto (specially bought at a
supermarket. This has to be risotto it cannot be regular rice) and stir
occasionally over low heat.
Add a splash of wine and cook over the stove, constantly stirring making sure
you continue to add the rest of the broth and wine.
After about 15 minutes remove the rice from the heat and sprinkle the
Parmesan liberally, the acorn and stir the mixture together. Now you can sit
down and eat this delicious meal with a nice glass of Pinot Grigio.