Incorporating the bounty of squash into autumn dishes

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The aspen and cottonwood leaves have begun their transformation from summer green to autumn gold. The nights are too frosty for most vegetables. But a profusion of squashes are flourishing.

It is harvest time. Whether you grow your own vegetables or rely on the farmers markets or local grocery stores, you can’t help but notice the variety of squash: Late summer zucchini and yellow squash, and winter pumpkins, butternut, acorn and other hard keepers. And with them come a desire to incorporate their bounty into our autumn dishes.

A few years ago, the spiralizing craze came to Taos, and I received a vegetable spiralizer as a gift. I found myself substituting spiraled zucchini noodles, or “zoodles,” for spaghetti in some recipes. Zoodles are a low-carb and delicious alternative to pasta. Last week, a friend gave me a few of their late-harvest zucchini.

They were firm and tender, so I wanted to use them up first. I decided to make them into zoodles. When coupled with a simple marinara sauce (use your favorite bottled marinara, or follow the recipe I include below), zucchini noodles make a wonderfully tasty supper. To make the marinara more substantial, I browned some ground bison and added it to the sauce to make it heartier, but still light thanks to the zucchini noodles. This is a dish that is good any time of year, and makes a nice transitional meal from summer to fall.

Because there were lovely stout little pie pumpkins in the market, I purchased some with the intention of making pies later in the season. But rather than save them for later, I got motivated and decided to bake them right away. They are really easy to cook. You just poke some holes in them, place them on a baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees until they collapse, about 30-40 minutes. Then wait for them to cool, cut them in half, remove the seeds and scrape out the succulent flesh. You can use the pumpkin flesh right away, or freeze it to use in recipes later.

The recipe I chose was Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Green Chile and Bacon. I love it because it hits all the right notes — the unique tastes of New Mexico combined with the classic flavors of autumn. If you don’t have time to cook your own pumpkin from scratch, it is perfectly okay to use canned pumpkin. You can even substitute butternut squash for the pumpkin in this recipe. Either way, the results are sublime — easy enough for a weeknight and special enough for a holiday meal.

These recipes are just a fraction of what you can do with late summer and winter squashes. In addition to these savory ideas, squashes are wonderful used as an ingredient in baked goods (zucchini bread, pumpkin pie) or even just baked on their own with some butter and maybe a little brown sugar to enhance their flavor. There are many possibilities, and I am sure you have your favorites.

So enjoy our beautiful Taos fall, and look for ways cook up some delicious (and nutritious) squash.