Baked Squash Pudding
If it wasn’t for all of the squash and root vegetables in the market, you wouldn’t know that it’s winter here in California. It was actually a little hot today. Just another reason I love this state.
This recipe is my take on another one that requires a food processor, which I’m assuming a lot of students don’t have. The end result is a not-too-sweet (!!), healthy dish that you could eat for breakfast or even serve as a dessert.
Baked Squash Pudding
1 butternut squash
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 block firm tofu
2 sweet apples (not Granny Smith!)
1/2 lemon
3 Tbs. agave nectar or honey
2 Tbs. cactus honey powder or brown sugar
1/2 Tbs. miso
2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of salt
Heat oven to 350° F. Carefully split the butternut squash in half lengthwise–you don’t want to chop off any fingers on accident! Place the squash, open side down, on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Bake until the skin is soft enough to pierce through with a chopstick or fork (approx. 1 to 1.5 hours).
When the squash has cooled enough to handle, discard the seeds and scoop out the squash into a mixing bowl. Mash roughly with a fork.
If you’re like me and don’t have long stretches of free time in your schedule, just store the squash in the refrigerator until you have time to assemble the rest of the recipe. When you’re ready to finish making the pudding, heat the oven to 350° F again.
Rinse and drain tofu. The tricky part now is to blend it smooth with a little bit of the squash. It really does help to have a food processor, but a cheap blender like mine works too. Place a couple spoonfuls of squash into the blender and crumble about half of the tofu on top. Pulse the mixture, scraping the sides frequently. Add more squash and a tiny bit of water if necessary. Once the mixture is creamy and smooth, empty it into the mixing bowl with the rest of the squash. Repeat for the remaining tofu.
Zest the lemon half. I used a vegetable peeler to peel the very top of the lemon skin (no pith!) before finely chopping it, but use a microplane if you have one. (Obviously, our kitchen appliance selection is quite rudimentary.)
Chop one apple into small cubes.
Add lemon zest, chopped apple, walnuts, agave nectar/honey, half of the honey powder/brown sugar, miso, oil, vanilla, cumin, and salt to the squash-tofu mixture. Mix until smooth. Empty into a baking pan of your choice.
Cut the other apple into thin slices and rub each slice with lemon. Press apple slices onto top of pudding, then squeeze lemon half over the entire thing. Sprinkle remaining honey powder/brown sugar over the apples.
Bake at 350° F for 30-40 minutes until the corners of the pudding have begun to brown.
