the lazy girl's favourite squash with go-faster stripes: delicata squash

delicata squash

This stripy winter squash is also known as "bohemian squash" (a name I find rather appealing - I dream in bohemian!)

With its rich nutty flavour and creamy texture, Delicata is this lazy girl's dream squash, as it needs no peeling since the skin is quite thin. They are also - and this point is a bit of a winner for me - they are really easy to de-seed. Scraping away at the seeds and threads with a metal spoon a couple of times, rather than wrestling with a tangle of dense seeds as you do with larger varieties of squash, gets the job done. (Or perhaps it’s just me that also seems to get in a bit of a muss with squash!)

I hope you get a sense of Delicata's va-va-voom, but you probably won't get much of a sense of scale from my photo. These little squash are only about 12 centimetres long, which makes them the perfect size for portion control. Nothing is wasted; even the skin is edible. (Although I must admit I don't care too much for the skin's texture - I think you would have to be very hungry to want to eat it. But the principle of nothing wasted is always welcome!)

I have plans to stuff and roast this squash, but apparently it is easy to steam, fry or mash too. Let the experimenting begin!