winter's first puree

in spite of the deadlines swarming about like beeves at a bazaar, I made Hiro some dinner last night. the roast pork was wonderful, and I'm almost wishing I hadn't packed the last of it into Hiro's lunch today....

but the crowning glory was my puree...

into a 375 degree oven, on a foil-wrapped baking sheet, place:

• 1 acorn squash, halved, seeded and cut sides down


• 1/4 to 1/2 kabocha squash (depending on how big it is), seeded and cut into wedges


• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks


• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, peeled and quartered


• 1 honeycrisp (or macintosh) apple, quartered and cored

bake for 1 hour. remove from oven. into a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the above (removing the squash flesh from the rinds, which you wouldn't want to eat) with:

• 3 tablespoons of butter


• a sprinkling of cinnamon


• half a can of crushed or chunk pineapple, with juice


• sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

stir to blend, and then insert stick blender and mush everything today, cackling maniacally.
continue to heat until some of the squash moisture has flown and the puree is thick enough to mound on a plate, at which point all who partake will be rendered ecstatic!