Roasted Delicata Squash with Onion and Poppy Seeds
Why should egg noodles and bialys have all the fun?
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I’ve been on a bit of a food fusion kick lately. I mean:
What in the cuisine-melding heck is going on inside my brain?
I think there’s something about this in-between time of year—in between holidays and in between seasons, when there isn’t a lot going on at the farmer’s market, and I’ve grow tired of the parade of wintry soups and stews (as much as I adore them)—that forces me to think more expansively about the question: “What’s for dinner?”
I am also deep into the process of developing recipes for my next cookbook, The Dessert Table. (Please come take the piles of cake and cookies out of my freezer!) I almost forgot how joyful it was to spend so much of my professional energy playing around with flavors and taking traditional dishes in fresh directions. I think all of that brainstorming set my creative culinary brain into a sort of overdrive.
This week, my Jewish fusion mania inspired a side dish I’m very excited about: Roasted Delicata Squash with Onion and Poppy Seeds. Poppy seeds are most closely associated with the sweet side of Jewish cuisine, particularly poppy seed hamantaschen and desserts like makosh and poppy seed roll cookies. (Here’s a Jewish poppy seed primer if you would like to go down that delightful rabbit hole.)
Hungarian Jews, like their neighbors, also make a simple noodle-based dessert called mákos tészta, which tosses toasted, ground poppy seeds with egg noodles and powdered sugar. On the savory side of things, they also make kaposztas téstza, where egg noodles get mixed with browned onions and caramelized cabbage. The latter dish is, without doubt, one of my desert-island foods.
While falling asleep one night last week, my brain started free associating all of this Diasporic deliciousness. What if instead of egg noodles, I started with roasted squash? Specifically delicata squash, which is easy to handle and has a thin peel that is not just edible, but enjoyable to eat when roasted. (And which I already happened to have on my counter.) And what if I covered the squash with a layer of browned onions and nutty, toasted poppy seeds?
It turns out, very good things happen. The squash provides all of the starchy comfort of egg noodles, while serving up extra caramelized flavor and a dose of nutrients. And the onion and poppy seed pairing—already iconic thanks to their co-starring roll on bialys and pletzlach—turns a simple side into a simple-but-stunning side.
You can serve Roasted Delicata Squash with Onion and Poppy Seeds (recipe below for paid subscribers) as is—it’s plenty delicious without further adornment. But why not play around with the flavor profile even more? Add a pat of butter to the onions while they brown! Stir in a little harissa at the end for a complex, fiery kick! Top the platter of squash with chopped chives! Drizzle on a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar right before serving!
Spring is on the way, but we still have a while to wait before the markets fill up with greens and Passover’s marathon cooking season begins. The slow and steady limbo weeks of late winter offer the perfect chance to go off-script, stretch your culinary wings, and see what happens.
UPCOMING: Portico Winter/Spring Events
TORONTO, February 8
TOMORROW: Thursday, Feb 8, I will be at the Prosserman JCC in conversation with cookbook author Rose Reisman. I will also demo a couple of recipes from Portico (including my favorite Passover-friendly cake.)
Tickets + Info
MINNEAPOLIS, February 28
On Wednesday, Feb 28, I will be at Temple Israel in Minneapolis in conversation with local chef Patti Soskin. If you are in the Twin Cities, come on out!
Tickets + Info
Check out the rest of Portico’s winter/spring lineup here — I would love to see you on the road. And if you can’t make it, now is an excellent time to buy a copy of Portico for yourself or a loved one for Valentine’s Day, Purim, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day…or any old day!
Roasted Delicata Squash with Onion and Poppy Seeds
Serves 4 to 6
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