Squash Casserole With Apple

I really like vegetables. More than fruit. I like my vegetables to taste like vegetables or else to taste like vegetables sauteed in butter.

So this recipe isn’t my usual taste preference, but it is to the tastes of last night’s Sunday Dinner guests. The squash comes out nice and smooth and it tastes a lot more like cinnamon applesauce than squash. So much so, you might even be able to get your kids to eat it. Mine didn’t bite. Get it, bite?

Part of the applesauceyness of this is from using acorn squash. If you are trying to get rid of some butternut, it’s probably going to turn out a little different in texture.

Squash Casserole with Apple

(Adapted from Mother Thyme)

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized squash (I used the acorn and sunshine squash in the picture above)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar (separated)
• 1 tbsp real maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon + extra for optional garnish
• couple shakes of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin (preferably tart apples, I used two medium sized Ginger Golds, and a smaller Fuji) (don’t cut them up at the beginning)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash the outside of your squash. Then cut them in half, remove the seeds and pulp and place face down in a baking dish. You can drizzle with olive oil or put a little olive oil or water on the casserole dish before baking, if you desire. Put it in the oven and bake until tender – a fork pushed in the skin should prick through without much effort. This will take different times depending on the size, thickness and type of squash. The acorn in the picture above took about 35 minutes, the sunshine about 45 minutes.
3. Take the squash out of the oven and let it cool until you won’t get burned handling it.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Scoop out the soft insides of the squash into your food processor or blender and discard the fleshy outsides. Puree the squash while adding in 1 tbsp brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Continue to blend until smooth.
6. Pour the puree into a small casserole dish, 8×8 baking dish or glass pie pan.
7.  Slice up the apples and toss them with the other 1 tbsp brown sugar. Layer the apple slices on top of the squash. Add a few shakes of cinnamon to the top if desired.
8. Bake the casserole at 350 degrees until the apples are tender, about 35 minutes.