If you ask me, there’s not a more delicious or easy to prepare squash than delicata!

When roasted, delicata makes a side dish that is similar to sweet potato fries but without any of the hassle and mess of deep frying and as an added bonus, the rings look like little flowers!

We enjoy “mixing it up” by varying the seasoning that we use. We’ve tried each of the following at different times and all have been great:

• Hungry Bear Farm’s garlic salt with freshly ground black pepper
• chili powder with salt
• thyme with salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Italian seasoning with salt

Some recipes that I’ve read call for added sweeteners but I find that our fresh delicata is sweet enough on its own.

Directions:

Preheat your oven or grill to 425 degrees

Cut both of the ends off of the squash and, with a long, skinny knife (I use one of our serrated steak knives), reach into the center and knock out the seeds.

With a sharp knife, cut the cored squash into “rings” that are about 1/2″ thick.

Place the rings into a deep bowl and sprinkle a generous amount of olive oil over them (you want to use enough oil to really coat each ring on all sides).

Add your seasoning and then toss the rings to evenly distribute the oil and seasoning.

Place the oiled, seasoned rings in a single layer on a baking sheet in your preheated oven or directly on your preheated grill.

Roast until the bottoms are browned a bit an then flip each ring and roast the other side. The first side takes about 15-20 minutes and the second side typically takes a bit less time. Watch them carefully to be sure that they don’t burn.

Serve immediately.