Roasted Delicata Squash with Miso Butter and Scallions
This dish hits all the flavor notes – sweet, salty, savory, tangy, and spicy – and it works well as a side dish or as a light meal, topped with a poached egg or a bit of tofu if you like. You can also add the squash rings to grain bowls or bento boxes, or go all out and make these fall brown rice veggie bowls with crispy tofu.
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Total: 40 minutesminutes
Servings: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
4medium delicata squash (sliced into rounds ½” thick, seeds removed)
1tablespoon(15 ml) sunflower or grapeseed oil
¼teaspoonfine sea salt, plus more to taste
8tablespoons(1 stick / 113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and warm
3tablespoons(45 ml) white miso paste
1tablespoon(15 ml) strained lemon juice
1teaspoonfinely grated fresh ginger root
3tablespoons(45 ml) warm water
3or 4 scallions (dark green parts only), washed and thinly sliced
togarashi or toasted sesame seeds
flaky salt
Instructions
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400ºF.
Slice the squash into rounds that are ½ - ¾ of an inch thick. Use a small paring knife to cut away the seeds and strings and discard. Place the squash rings on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with the oil and salt and toss to combine. Arrange the squash rings in a single layer and roast until tender and lightly golden on both sides, about 30 minutes, flipping the rings over after about 20 minutes.
In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the miso, lemon juice, grated ginger, and water. If the mixture won’t emulsify, add more water by the teaspoon until it will. Strain the miso butter to remove the miso chunks (they taste good but don’t look very appetizing). Taste the miso butter, adding salt or more lemon if you feel it needs it. Keep warm until ready to use, or refrigerate airtight for up to 2 weeks and rewarm as needed, whisking to re-emulsify.
Place the warm roasted squash on a platter and drizzle with some of the warm miso butter (you’ll have some left over), and sprinkle with the scallions and a few good pinches of togarashi and flaky salt. Serve warm.
Notes
Be sure to source high quality ingredients in this simple recipe; I used some beautiful cultured butter from Vermont Creamery. Look for delicatas that feel heavy for their size.This recipe makes more miso butter than you’ll need for this amount of squash – about double – so feel free to up the squash quantity if feeding a crowd or if you want leftovers. Otherwise, store extra miso butter refrigerated airtight for up to 2 weeks. Rewarm as needed, whisking to re-emulsify.Nutritional values are based on one of four servings.