So my Dad had told me last year that he looked for Cushaw Squash but could not find any, anywhere, so I found the seeds in a catalogue and planted some this year. When they first grew, I thought I was supposed to pick them whe they were like the size of zucchini. When my Dad saw, he was like "well, I remember them being alot bigger". So I went online and did a bit of research. YES! they should have been much bigger, so I had to wait until fall (which I should have done with the first ones anyway) to harvest some of the others that got to be much larger, as you can see in the picture below.
The one below made 19 cups of puree'! I ended up giving the rest away. I figured that would take me a pretty long time to use up! lol
So the first thing I did was fill my pot with 1"-2" of water, then cut up the stem into chunks that would easily fit in my pot...
However, here is the disclaimer! After handeling the squash this far, I realized all that water that kept beading up on the squash, then becomes a hard film on your hands that even with a scrub brush is hard to get off. SO WEAR GLOVES!
Once done with the stem, I scraped the the seeds out, as you would with a pumpkin. Continue cutting into chunks.
Bring the water to a boil, and then cover with a lid and turn down temp. Let steam until flesh is soft. Then I used prongs to lift the pieces out. As I took out each piece, I layed it on it's side and cut the rind off. It cuts real easy, like going through butter....
Then I put the pieces in my Ninja processer and puree'd until all smooth.
Like I said, that one squash gave me 19 Cups. The recipe I have only called for a cup and a half for one pie. I tasted it, and as I had read, it was very similar to pumpkin, only sweeter.
Cushaw Squash Pie
1 1/2 C Squash
1 C milk
1 C sugar
little salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla (I sometimes put a bit more in)
2 eggs
1 Tb butter
Mix all together and pour into unbaked pie crust. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until toothpick comes out clean.
