Food & Drink

Roasted Kabocha Squash with Black Trumpet Mushrooms and Madeira

Excerpted from Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby’s Vedge (The Experiment, 2015)

This is a “first taste of autumn” dish for me. It’s late October, the tomatoes are gone, the eggplants and peppers are dwindling down, and there’s a distinct nip in the air. This time of year I start craving those deeper, heartier flavors that one just doesn’t get at summer picnics and barbecues. Black trumpet mushrooms are a delicious harbinger of chilly weather and holidays. They have a deep, nutty, and intensely earthy flavor that complements the rich, soft flesh of cold-weather squash like the kabocha here. (Feel free to substitute chanterelles or brown beech mushrooms for the black trumpets, and acorn or butternut squash for the kabocha.) The sweet, raisin-like flavor of Madeira takes the whole dish home.

Roasted Kabocha Squash with Black Trumpet Mushrooms and Madeira

Print Recipe

Serves: 6

Ingredients

4 cups peeled, diced kabocha squash (2 to 3 pounds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ pound black trumpet mushrooms, wiped clean
½ cup chopped shallots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ cup Madeira
½ cup Vegetable Stock
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the squash in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and ½ teaspoon of the pepper. Transfer to a sheet pan and roast until fork-tender, 8 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until evenly brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

Deglaze the mushrooms with the Madeira and reduce by half, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the Vegetable Stock and rosemary, stir, then remove from the heat.

Arrange the squash in a serving dish. Spoon the mushrooms over the squash and serve.