Our dining room and kitchen tables are currently an explosion of various pumpkins and winter squashes. They’re everywhere right now (#fallyall), and I can’t get enough of them. Not only do they make gorgeous decorations for the season, but they’re edible. Win-win! They are also pretty beautiful to photograph! I’m sharing a favorite, simple recipe for roasted red kuri squash; we’ve been eating this on repeat!

Today’s recipe can hardly be considered a recipe, it’s just that simple. However, it’s so scrumptious, makes a tasty side dish, and can be the base of a limitless number of other recipes, so I felt compelled to share it as a recipe on its own. The red kuri squash is a favorite winter squash. The cooked texture is perfectly buttery, and I love how it tastes vaguely of a sweet potato, without as much sweetness. I roasted it with shallots, extra virgin olive oil, and a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper. I honestly could have eaten the entire tray as soon as it came out of the oven and cooled enough so that I did not scorch my fingers. Especially those darkened edges and skin. YUM. I’ll be experimenting more with kuri squash over the next few weeks, so expect a few more recipes!

Simple Roasted Red Kuri Squash

Ingredients
1 red kuri squash (about 2.5 lbs), seeds removed and cut into slices about 1-2 inches thick
4 shallots, roughly sliced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat squash slices in olive oil and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and black pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, then flip over squash slices and add shallots to baking sheet. Roast for another 20 minutes. You want shallots and squash to be soft and nicely browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool to touch.

If you are serving these as a side dish, place on platter and serve. This recipe serves about 4. If you are using these in another recipe, remove squash flesh from skins and mash. Skin is edible, though, so make sure you don’t toss it! Snack for the cook 🙂

Try using roasted red kuri squash in this creamy coconut baked pasta recipe.