Save this Slimy Squash
September 29, 2021 6:57 AM Subscribe
I roasted a whole kabocha in chunks last night, and it came out unpleasantly slimy. Help me remediate it!
I bought a lovely fresh kabocha and roasted it, chunked and with olive oil, salt, and pepper last night - something I've done many times with good results.
Where I went wrong, I think, was in the oven temperature. I had been baking bread, so the oven was at 450 when I put it in, but I reset it at 350. It was in for almost an hour, 1/2 hour of which was shared with the salmon I was making for dinner.
The inside surfaces of all the kabocha chunks are unpleasantly slimy, but otherwise it is cooked through. Do I re-roast? Do I puree? (I don't tend to eat squash purees, honestly.) Would parchment paper help if I re-roast? I normally roast veggies on a silicon mat but have noticed crunchier edges with parchment.
I am the only one in my household likely to eat the rest of this.
I bought a lovely fresh kabocha and roasted it, chunked and with olive oil, salt, and pepper last night - something I've done many times with good results.
Where I went wrong, I think, was in the oven temperature. I had been baking bread, so the oven was at 450 when I put it in, but I reset it at 350. It was in for almost an hour, 1/2 hour of which was shared with the salmon I was making for dinner.
The inside surfaces of all the kabocha chunks are unpleasantly slimy, but otherwise it is cooked through. Do I re-roast? Do I puree? (I don't tend to eat squash purees, honestly.) Would parchment paper help if I re-roast? I normally roast veggies on a silicon mat but have noticed crunchier edges with parchment.
I am the only one in my household likely to eat the rest of this.
Soup! Start with a base of aromatics, whatever you like, but for instance onions, celery, carrot, garlic and chili. Gently cook them in oil till the onions are translucent, you don't want browning. Put in the kabocha with water or stock, cook (not too long since the kabocha is already cooked). Season to taste -- I'd go for salt and white pepper and maybe the juice of half a lemon.
Blend with a stick blender or in a food processor or whatever you have. Serve with croutons on top. Or apple dices, or both. Or with dukkah. Or Dukkah and apple dices and croutons. You get the point.
posted by mumimor at 7:23 AM on September 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Blend with a stick blender or in a food processor or whatever you have. Serve with croutons on top. Or apple dices, or both. Or with dukkah. Or Dukkah and apple dices and croutons. You get the point.
posted by mumimor at 7:23 AM on September 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
I can vouch for Spicy Libyan Pumpkin Dip. Good with pita chips
posted by olopua at 7:42 AM on September 29, 2021
posted by olopua at 7:42 AM on September 29, 2021
I think that
a) the kabocha slimy was caused by sharing the oven space with salmon, and
b) in this application, parchment paper aids only in cleanup.
No, don't re-roast. But after it gets cold, a microwave re-heating might remove the slimy.
posted by Rash at 8:24 AM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
a) the kabocha slimy was caused by sharing the oven space with salmon, and
b) in this application, parchment paper aids only in cleanup.
No, don't re-roast. But after it gets cold, a microwave re-heating might remove the slimy.
posted by Rash at 8:24 AM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Hard shell squashes have extremely aggressive sap. You notice it most in butternuts. In the sappiest squashes I've cut up the pieces get extremely slimy and can retain their sliminess through roasting. Unpleasant.
Something that has worked well for me is to pre-process the squash chunks by blitzing them in a steamer for a couple minutes, letting them cool, and then roasting them. That doesn't help you now, of course, but maybe in the future the next time you have a very fresh sticky squash.
Personally I'd turn this into soup.
posted by phunniemee at 11:07 AM on September 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
Something that has worked well for me is to pre-process the squash chunks by blitzing them in a steamer for a couple minutes, letting them cool, and then roasting them. That doesn't help you now, of course, but maybe in the future the next time you have a very fresh sticky squash.
Personally I'd turn this into soup.
posted by phunniemee at 11:07 AM on September 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
Soup, risotto, puree and make into a layer of lasagna, use it the way you would use a pumpkin (or a can of pumpkin) in baking.
posted by bile and syntax at 2:11 PM on September 29, 2021
posted by bile and syntax at 2:11 PM on September 29, 2021
Response by poster: All right, I feel like the answer is soup. Thanks y'all for the input - I will beware the excessive sap! Maybe I should let future hard shell squash age a bit before processing?
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:57 AM on September 30, 2021
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:57 AM on September 30, 2021
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posted by chocotaco at 7:10 AM on September 29, 2021 [4 favorites]