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Winter squash is one of those seasonal vegetables
that I really look forward to cooking with in the fall.
You may be familiar with butternut or buttercup,
some of those other varieties, but if you've ever tried delicata,
this is really one of my favorites.
Like all other winter squash, it's a little hard to cut into,
so this recipe calls for sliced delicata.
I'm opting for the cleaned and cut version here.
The grading system on our balsamic vinegars
just tells you a little bit about how long they've been aged.
This one is a Two Leaf.
And I'm using this one for cooking.
They go all the way up to Four Leaf.
These are more concentrated, a little bit sweeter,
and you would use them more as a condiment
or maybe in salad dressings.
But this one's perfect for this recipe, so off to the kitchen.
Okay, we're starting out this super simple recipe
by combining some delicata squash
that's already been cut in half, seeded,
and then cut in these half moon shapes.
So we've got about a pound and a half in there,
along with one medium onion that's been sliced.
One sweet onion.
And to that, we're adding two tablespoons of our basting oil,
which has garlic, and herbs, and lots of good things in here
to give this wonderful flavor.
That's good.
And about the same amount, two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.
Little tang there that adds a little different element to this recipe.
Let's season that with some salt and pepper.
And then we're gonna give it a toss to combine all of these things.
So just so that the oil coats all the veggies evenly.
All right, next step.
Simply move this over to our baking pan.
And what we want here
is for this to be laid out on the pan in a single layer, evenly.
It'll cook better that way.
That way it will evenly brown all around the veggies
without steaming them.
And that's just about--that's exactly the right amount for this pan.
All right, we're ready to put this in the oven.
I have my oven preheated at 450 degrees,
so I'm gonna stick that in there for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Okay, it's been about 30 minutes, so let's take a look.
Now here's what I'm looking for.
See these pieces are nice and crisp on the outside
and the flesh I know is very tender
because I can easily push through it with my tongs here.
But that's what I'm looking for
because we're leaving the skin on the delicata
and even though it's very fine and delicious,
you still want to cook it enough so that the outside skin
crisps up a little bit.
This is so easy.
What I love about it is that you can do this, stick it in the oven,
and you can spend a little bit more time
fussing with the other courses that you have in the meal.
So enjoy it and try it.