I have mentioned previously of a fascination I had with the traditional American Thanksgiving feasts in one particular desert item was the setting which George and Martha Washington served, which was the President's favorite.
It was pumpkin pie without the pie crust, and the pumpkin shell served as a pie shell. It was simple in the pumpkin was hollowed out, and the normal custard that goes into the pie shell, was created with cream, sugar, egg and salt, mixed and then poured into the capped shell, baked until it was done, and then the President scooped out some baked pumpkin with this custard type thing for desert.
TL sort of caught my obsession with some garden things, and as we were progressing through a market or two, there were hosts of the blue Australian, white, Cinderella, some huge warty orange Hubbard things of the name I forget now, and the little baby boo pumpkins.
TL finally purchased a cream colored Acorn squash, a Turks Turban and a Futsi for edible decorations.
TL likes squash that is baked, with a coating and in strips as is done with Butternut types due to their long necks and large meaty area, but these were round types and did not afford the prepation.
So after a little thinking, we put on some nutmeg and cinnamon, covered with tin foil, and baked them that way in the Acorn and Futsi types.
I never have really liked squash that much. While I have grown them with delight, I never found many that suited me as some of the orange varieties are so strong flavored it almost gags me. Buttercups are a type I can grow by the bushel, but I have trouble eating them. Hubbards are the same in flavor with me, so I settled on the Butternuts, even if they are longer season types.
I progressed to the little Acorn type green, as it was the least flavorful and decided with brown sugar, pumpkin spices and butter I could eat them with a wild duck a few times a year, as I enjoy growing squash.
As stated though, I wanted to try that President and Martha Washington desert and ventured onto a quicker remedy you might like.
After baking, we had on hand my butter whipped cream, which is just a few cups of heavy whipping cream, a teaspoon of vanilla and about 1 cup of granulated sugar, which is kept frozen.
You simply let these squash cool some, and then put in a scoop of this whipped cream, and with the spices, it is surprising how nice this is. There is a caveat in this, that the Acorn is a bit bitter and unflavorful, so it does not do well in this method.
The Futsi though, which is sort of a teardrop shaped bright orange squash, was really perfect for this. It was the first time I ever tried one, and they are a very nice squash.
To use the old adage, most pumpkin pie in America in the can is not pumpkin, but squash.I know all pumpkins are squash, but Pluto is still a planet to me, and things that look like pumpkins are pumpkins to me too, no matter what anal college egg head has dreamed up to look smart..........it is like if I told you that you were not eating bread, but were eating grass, as all cereal grains are in the grass family. It is just being a mental pest and it accomplishes nothing.
For a light desert to try, I really enjoyed this, and we saved the seeds from the squash to plant next year, knowing of course that squash of like genus will cross pollinate, as pumpkins are Pepo like Acorns, but I think this Futsi, which I think is from Japan is of that giant squash pumpkin type which is too long to spell right now for me in the maximas.
Might be interesting to try this, before some Thanksgiving meal. The Futsi's do sweat their sap though like many squash do in the sugars, and you can just dump this off.
For me, it was nice, because you can raise piles of squash, but most people can not eat that many and most recipes do not appeal to most people. This was just something nice with sweets upon it, and it pleased me to be that much closer to something President and Martha Washington served at Mt. Vernon.
Happy Thanksgiving.
agtG
