My mom used to make this when I was a kid, and I never ate it, because, you know, squash. I not only eat it now, I make it. In fact, I mentioned that I made it as a side dish just the other day.

It does take about an hour, but it's really really easy, and perfect for the fall. My mom doesn't put salt on them, but I love things that are salty and sweet so I added salt and herbs to the original recipe. It's important to use coarse sea salt and not grains of salt because it makes a discernible difference in taste and texture. Maldon flake salt or Fleur de Sel are the ones I prefer.




Sweet-Salty Acorn Squash
I'm going to give you the way to make 1 squash, but obviously you can just make more. You should plan to make 1 whole squash for 2 people, because half is plenty for one person! Sometimes you can get really big squashes, but I think the smaller, rounder ones are cuter and fit better on the plate.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole acorn squash
• about 2 tsp brown sugar
• about 2 tsp butter
• leaves from one sprig of thyme
• coarse sea salt

Method:

• Heat the oven to 350. Put the whole squash in the oven and cook it for about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare a baking pan with foil and spray the foil with non-stick spray.
• Remove squash from the oven (carefully, because, it's, you know, hot) and cut in half. Scoop out the seeds and stringy insides with a spoon.
• Place cut side down and cook for another 40 minutes or so, until squash is soft.
• Flip over and put 1 tsp butter, 1 tsp brown sugar, and a couple thyme leaves in the hole of each squash. Cook another 5 minutes or so, until it's bubbly.
• Remove from oven and put on plates or serving platter. Sprinkle with a pinch of coarse sea salt on each.