Honeynut Squash with Maple, Rosemary and Sugared Pecans
If you've never had a honeynut……….
If you've never had a honeynut (you’ve been missing out. What I tell my customers who haven’t seen them before is this: picture a butternut squash that got shrunk down to the size of your hand and turned up to full volume. It tastes like a dreamy sweet potato met a butternut and brought it to bed and made a sweet, smooth, sexy little baby winter squash. (Okay, I took that way too far.)
I’ll cool off.
I roasted three yesterday, next to a couple of butternuts. Sunday Evening Show Co-roasts if you will. And the honeynuts were gone before the butternuts were cool to touch.
Why does it tastes like that?
Honeynuts weren't bred to fill a truck. They were bred to taste good. I love that!!!
The story goes that a chef, Dan Barber, asked a Cornell plant breeder, Michael Mazourek, why nobody had bred a butternut that was smaller and actually tasted like something. Mazourek took up the challenge, and they judged the test squash mostly on flavor. Honeynut reached markets around 2016.
That's the opposite of how a lot of our food gets bred, where yield and shelf life come first. Somebody made a choice on purpose here, and you can taste it. There is really something to be said there about intentional agriculture.
One funny side: Barber (the chef with that plant breeding buddy) has said this squash doesn't need maple syrup to be delicious. He might be right. I put it on anyway every dang time. It’s just the flavors together are so uuuuuggggghhh
Tools: basting brush · sheet pan · unbleached parchment paper · your favorite kitchen knife
Roasted Honeynut Squash with Maple, Rosemary and Sugared Pecans
Ingredients
- 3 honeynut squash
- 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon maple syrup, mixed 1:1 (plenty for three, with some left over)
- Flaky sea salt and black pepper
- A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
- A handful of sugared pecans
Steps
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment.
- Cut each honeynut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Don't skip this one.
- Stir the olive oil and maple syrup together and brush it over the cut sides.
- Roast cut side up for about 40 minutes, until a fork slides right in and the edges go caramel-brown.
- Finish with sea salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and a pile of sugared pecans.
You can eat the skin. It's thin enough that you don't need to peel it.
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Honeynuts are on the stand now, while they last.
Related: Sugared Pecans · Roasting Butternut for Blondies · What's in Season at the Farmstand · Find a farm stand near you
Sources
Cornell CALS, "New seed catalog restores vegetable flavor, savor" (2018): cals.cornell.edu
Wikipedia, "Honeynut squash": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeynut_squash