As winter squash goes, delicata is becoming one of the most beloved picks boasted at the market during the brisker months of the year. Classified alongside pumpkins and gourds, delicata squash is prized for its sweet, rich and flavorful taste along with ease of preparation.

I have created a dish using delicata squash, marrying some simple flavors and striking colors to create a memorable impact. Also in season, kohlrabi adds crunch and absorbs flavor, serving as a delicious vehicle for acidity when pickled.

I cut the delicata squash into rings and remove the seeds. There is no need to peel the skin: it’s tasty, provides a good bit of texture and brings inviting color to the plate, where each squash showcases its own imperfect pattern and shape.

After seasoning the squash well with kosher salt and espelette pepper, I douse the rings in a high-quality rapeseed oil, which adds a beautifully rich nutty flavor. I then roast in the oven, turning part way through to ensure even cooking, and brush with a glaze made from manuka honey and Chardonnay vinegar and add a few fresh thyme leaves.

To top the roasted squash, I am balancing the sweetness with savory omega seeds. I soak pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds with tamari (a fermented soybean sauce, similar to soy but without wheat) and bake in the oven until coated with the salty, umami-rich glaze. Omega seeds cooked in tamari also stand on their own as a simple, healthy and delicious snack.

To accompany the squash and omega seeds, I have prepared a goat cheese cream, stabilized with a little agar for a smooth and velvety mouthfeel. I slowly cook more squash under vacuum and dehydrate, transforming the plant into a vibrant and tasty powder to finish the dish.

This recipe celebrates the best flavors of winter, when despite gloomy, gray days, we can have vibrant, exciting vegetable dishes.

Chef Barry's Roasted Delicata Squash, Tamari-Roasted Omega Seeds, Goat Cheese Cream, Pickled Kohlrabi — Photo by Emily Gilbert Photography

More Squash Recipes:

Ingredients

1 delicata squash
Rapeseed oil, as needed
Piment d’espelette, as needed

Directions

Cut 2.5-cm rings, remove seeds.
Season rings with salt and piment d’espelette. Coat with rapeseed oil place on tray with parchment.
Roast at 190 C/375 F for 10 minutes.
Flip and roast for 4 minutes.

Goat Cheese Cream

Ingredients

160 grams heavy cream
60 grams Crottin de Chavignol goat cheese
2 grams agar
1 gram kosher salt
4 grams lemon juice
1/2 lemon zest

Directions

Heat cream and agar to 94 C/200 F.
Hold for 3 minutes.
Remove from heat, add goat cheese, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Chill over ice.
Blend in Vita-Prep until smooth.
Pass through tamis.
Place into piping bag.

Omega Seeds

Ingredients

30 grams sunflower seeds
20 grams flax seeds
40 grams pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
30 grams tamari
Rapeseed oil, as needed

Directions

Preheat oven to 150 C/300 F.
Spread seeds out on Silpat.
Bake at 150 C/300 F for 7 minutes.
Douse in rapeseed oil.
Pull apart with fingers and store in cool, dry container.

Kohlrabi

Ingredients

1 kohlrabi
100 milliliters Chardonnay vinegar
50 grams sugar

Directions

Slice kohlrabi on Japanese mandolin.
Punch out with leaf punch.
Heat vinegar and sugar. Allow to cool.
Add kohlrabi and leave to pickle for 12 hours.

Honey Glaze

Ingredients

50 grams manuka honey
10 grams chardonnay vinegar
1 sprig picked thyme leaves

Squash Powder

Ingredients

270 grams butternut squash
1.2 grams Ultra-Tex 3
0.5 grams kosher salt
1% methylcellulose F50

Directions

Dice squash small. Place in a vacuum bag.
Add Ultra-Tex 3 and salt.
Seal on 100%.
Cook at 84 C/183 F for 2 hours.
Blend in a Vita-Prep.
Weight mixture and add 1% methylcellulose F50. Blend
Spread 2 mm-thin onto silpat.
Dehydrate at 67 C/153 F for 24 hours.
Blend in Vita-Prep to a fine powder.
Sieve.

Assembly

Brush roasted squash with honey glaze.
Top with tamari-roasted omega seeds.
Drain pickled kohlrabi, dust with squash powder.
Pipe goat cheese cream.
Top with sorrel leaf and baby beet leaves
Place squash ring on plate and top with kohlrabi and sorrel.

Read more from the Culinary Technology Lab, and study with Chef Barry in ICE's Culinary Arts program.

Barry Tonkinson — VP of Culinary Operations

Chef Barry Tonkinson is ICE's vice president of culinary operations. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Chef Barry matriculated in English literature, media studies and sociology at Backwell Sixth Form College in Bristol, followed by culinary arts at Westminster Kingsway College in London. After graduation, he worked at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants in England before relocating to the U.S. and developing a catering company in Connecticut. At ICE, he implemented the school's first fermentation lab and embraces a modernist approach to savory cooking in the culinary technology lab.