Kabocha What?

In my organic vegetable order last week, I received a very odd looking vegetable.

Source

I'm not all that familiar with squashes, so first I thought it was a misshapen acorn squash. I did some research and found out it was actually a Kabocha Squash, which I had never heard of, much less cooked or eaten. Thank God for Google.

While researching some recipes, I found out that Kabocha is a Japanese variety of winter squash, and that's it's often called a "Japanese Pumpkin". It's rich in beta carotene, iron, vitamin C, and potassium.

Fortunately for me, Kabocha Squash are very simple to prepare and taste yummy with just basic roasting.

I sliced the squash into 1/2" pieces--not an easy chore, considering the skin is extremely thick (I left it on though, after reading that it would soften enough to eat during baking). I drizzled it with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Verdict: It was delicious! The skin did soften up and the squash was really good. For being such a simple recipe, Josh and I both really enjoyed this!

I haven't really experimented much with squash until recently, because I always assumed that if I didn't like the yellow variety I wouldn't like any of them. However, I've discovered that I love butternut squash and I apparently really like Kabocha squash too! Next on my list to try: acorn squash and spaghetti squash.