Tuesday evening's meal brings of bit of experimentation.

A bit of back story -
A while back, my mother described a rather simple way of roasting acorn squash:

Halve the squash and roast it for 45 minutes @ 375 deg. F. Remove from oven, quarter, adorn with nutmeg; brown sugar; golden raisins + a bit of butter and then stick it in the oven for another 15 minutes.

This is quite the low effort, high payoff sort of meal...ideal for a lighter fall meal. Of course, I choose to go even lazier and not bother with quartering it; the half makes a nice natural bowl shape.

However, today I decided to take roasted acorn squash in a slightly different direction. I kept the core elements of the recipe the same - dried sweet fruit, the roasting time & method - but modified it:

Instead of raisins, I used chopped dates. I combined that together with chopped ginger, black pepper, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon in a central mound that cooked under the squash half during the initial 45 minute roasting period. Then the covered ingredients were added to the hollowed out center + the touch of butter for the finishing 15.

The end result had the same basic concepts and flavors as the recipe I wiped off my mother, but with a slightly more exotic flavor. I have to say the ginger added a nice edge to it. I think the only thing I might change is possibly adding a little brown sugar after cooking is all done.

Those of you brave enough to try this out, let me know what you think and any other variations that might work out well.