Roasted Acorn Squash Bruschetta

The story is simple – I found a good looking organic Acorn squash at my local Whole Foods store this morning and I bought it without knowing what I was going to do with it. I came home and looked in my pantry to see what I could use as inspiration and I found some dried cherries and decided that the color contrast of the red cherries and the yellow squash would be good. I threw in a green bell pepper to get some crunch and more color to the dish.  The fresh French bread I got at the bakery was handy and so that had to be paired off with the veggies in some way –  it all combined to make a yummy bruschetta!

Ingredients:

1.    An Acorn squash
2.    A handful of dried cherries
3.    20-25 green pitted olives (I had the garlicky kind)
4.    One small green pepper (I got a small crunchy one from my veggie patch)
5.    4-5 shallots
6.    2 cloves of garlic
7.    Salt and pepper to taste
8.    2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
9.    1.5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
10.    1.5 tablespoons of honey
11.    10-15 fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1.    Heat the oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit.

2.    Wash and cut open the Acorn squash and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
3.    Peel the two halves on the squash and cut into one square inch cubes (or a little bigger is fine too).

4.    Place the diced squash on a baking sheet and pour some olive oil on it (enough to coat the pieces) and sprinkle some salt and pepper over it.
5.    Peel the garlic cloves and slice them.
6.    Sprinkle the garlic cloves over the squash pieces and mix thoroughly.
7.    Place the baking sheet in the oven for 12-15 minutes (until squash in tender and cooked).
8.    While the squash in roasting, peel the shallots and slice them in rough chunks.

9.    Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in a shallow non-stick pan and pour the chopped shallots into it and cook the shallots on a low flame.

10.    Slice the olives and pour them into the non-stick pan and stir fry them with the shallots for a minute or so and turn the heat off.
11.    When the squash is tender, take it out of the oven and pour the squash pieces into the non-stick pan and mix gently (otherwise the squash pieces will be reduced to pulp which is not very attractive looking).

12.    In a small bowl, whisk in the apple cider vinegar and honey and pour the mixed liquid over the pan and mix gently again.

13.   Also de-seed and chop the green bell pepper and mix that with the squash. Set this pan aside and let the squash cool down to room temperature.

14.    Using a serrated knife, slice baguette into slices about one inch thick.

15.    Pour a little bit of olive oil over the baguette slices and place the slices in a toaster oven for 3-4 minutes – till the bread gets slightly browned and crunchy.

16.    While the bread is toasting, chop the basil leaves into thin slivers.
17.    Take the bread out of the toaster and place in a serving dish.  Gently put 1-2 tablespoons of the cooked veggie mixture over the pieces of toasted bread. Garnish with slivered basil leaves on top. This bruschetta  can be serve as an appetizer or by itself as a light lunch.

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