gourd yourself on this

We have Christmas down to a routine at my house. My grandmother always makes the same dishes. Every single year. She seems to haphazardly add spices and salt and pepper. I'm always skeptical that something won't go right. Somehow though, her instinct is always perfect and all of her dishes come out tasting delicious.

Upon my arrival to Knoxville, my mother had directed me to not make any more food. "We have too much." But she finally gave in and allowed me to make one side dish for Christmas Day dinner. Since the menu is so set in stone, this was kind of a big deal. She had originally requested a dish featuring asparagus. But asparagus is not in season right now (and thus very expensive, especially if you are feeding 14 people, and not very tasty), so I opted for a winter squash combination. The recipe called for butternut squash, kabocha squash, and parsnips. The grocery store did not have kabocha squash so I substituted in its place acorn squash. Of course, I ended up buying way too much squash and thus, omitted the parsnips entirely.

Squash is hard for me to account for because (a) I am never sure how much fruit I will lose when peeling the skin off; (b) I am never sure how much innards will be inside (there seems to be quite a large range); and (c) I am not good at estimating the weight of things. It is always better though, I think, to have too much than not enough. Plus everyone loves cold leftovers. For my family, I actually ended up more than doubling the recipe. Also, I spent a small fortune on organic rosemary (it was the only available kind) only to learn that rosemary is essentially a weed that grows healthily in my backyard.

Roasted Winter Squash with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds (adapted from Bon Appetit)

8 cups of winter squash (I probably had a 3:2 ratio of butternut squash to acorn squash)
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup real maple syrup (though I recommend cutting this a bit...maybe 2/5 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup coarsely chopped Marcona almonds

Peel all of the squash. It can be a difficult task, often more easily accomplished by simply cutting off the skin with a sharp knife. However, we happened to have a very sharp, sturdy vegetable peeler at my house that worked quite nicely. You lose less of the squash this way though it is still tedious. Chop into 1/2 inch cubes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the maple syrup, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, toss the squash with the maple syrup mixture until thoroughly coated.

Transfer to a large, buttered glass baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and uncover. Sprinkle with almonds and bake for an additional 10 minutes (or more time, if needed).