IN THE KITCHEN : Gorgeous Gourd

This year, it seems, summer lasted all of about two weeks. It was a fairly miserable season for tomatoes and basil and other things that take sunny dry days to ripen. No sooner did their prime time begin than it was over.

I still have tomatoes on the vine--some ripe, some not--but to tell the truth, I really don’t feel like eating them. For me, eating tomatoes and eggplants and the like takes the same intensely hot weather that growing them does. They’re kind of like Hawaiian shirts--they take a certain setting to be appropriate.

We may well get another tomato-time heat wave, this being Southern California and all, but as far as food is concerned, I’ve already unpacked my fall wardrobe.

I can mark exactly when it happened. It was a Sunday evening, and after spending the day working in the garden, planting and weeding and hacking back the bougainvillea--generally doing what passes in Southern California for hunkering-down-for-the-winter rituals--I came in tired and hungry. The day before I had spotted a beautiful, creamy-tan butternut squash at the farmers market and had bought it, intending to keep it around until the weather turned.

Well, that day had arrived sooner than anticipated. I fired up the oven and pulled a chicken from the refrigerator. My hands still smelled of lavender from the garden--which gave me an idea. I went back outside and gathered some lavender leaves, chopped them coarsely and rubbed the chicken both outside and inside. I put the rest of the leaves in the cavity, trussed the bird up tight with rough cotton twine and stuck it in a hot oven to roast.

As the chicken began cooking, I quartered the squash lengthwise, peeled away the seeds and veins and laid it unadorned in a baking dish. I put a little water in the bottom to keep the cut edges from forming too much of a tough skin during the dry roasting, and put them in with the chicken.

There are more than 25 types of winter squash that are commercially grown, ranging from the too-familiar pumpkin (better for carving than cooking) to the exotic Hubbard (which with its blue-gray warted skin looks more like a gourd than a goodie).

Winter squash are closely related not only to summer squash (indeed, some winter squash can be cooked as summer squash if picked at an early, tender stage) but also to melons.

There are two things that set all winter squash apart for the cook. The first, of course, is their flavor, which--though varied from type to type--generally shares at least a mild sweetness and a taste usually described as “nutty” (that’s nutty as in Madeira wine, not as in Lucille Ball). The other is their texture, which starts out hard and crisp as an apple and requires softening to be edible. The change happens at what is called the gelatinization temperature--between 137 and 150 degrees--when the densely packed starch molecules swell, taking up water and becoming very soft. This is the same thing that happens when you cook potatoes, but because squashes are not as high in starch as potatoes, they can be pureed in a food processor without turning to glue.

Because of the way squashes are built, this gelatinization varies from variety to variety. With some types, cooking results in a stringy, fibrous texture (think of pumpkin, or, as an extreme case, spaghetti squash). In others, the final result is closer to room-temperature butter.

Whatever the type of squash, gelatinization is well within the temperature range of both baking and boiling, but I usually prefer to bake these squashes. First, because I want the squash to taste of itself, and when the starch molecules start absorbing water, I want it to be from the squash rather than from the cooking liquid. Secondly, in the roasting process, you do reach higher temperatures than in boiling (say 450 degrees as opposed to 212 degrees) and that develops the flavors we associate with the browning process. I find this “roasti-ness” almost always to be a nice counterpoint to the sweetness in squashes.

About 45 minutes after putting the food in the oven, the house was full of the warm, comforting smell of roasted things, and when prodded with a knife, the squash gave easily. I pulled it from the oven, set it aside to cool for a minute and then, using a sharp knife, peeled away the thin skin. The meat of the squash went into the food processor with some butter. While it whirred away to a smooth puree, I took the chicken from the oven and let it rest before carving.

I tasted the squash puree and it was rich and deeply flavored--a combination of the nutty, warm sweetness of good pumpkin with just a bit of a squashy vegetable edge. Despite the fact there was only a bit of butter, the texture was fatty and luxurious. In fact, it was just a bit too luxurious. Casting about for something to give it a bit more balance, I found a basket of tart Spartan apples. I quickly peeled, cored and chopped a nice-sized one and added it to the squash puree in the processor. After a couple of pulses, the apple had been reduced to a rough pulp, giving the squash just a bit of crunch and clean, crisp flavor.

I unbound the chicken and carved it, the skin mahogany brown and scented with a combination of the honest smell of roasted chicken and a hint of the perfume of lavender. The squash-apple puree was a perfect match--almost decadently rich with just a touch of the country flavor of sour fall apples. We ate everything and finished a decent bottle of a Cotes du Rhone to boot. As we were washing dishes, the rain started.

AFTER-THE-FALL SQUASH PUREE 1 (2-pound) butternut squash, ends trimmed, quartered and seeded 4 tablespoons butter Salt 1 medium tart green apple, such as Spartan or Granny Smith, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

Place squash in baking dish just big enough to hold in one layer. Add enough water to cover bottom of dish. Bake at 450 degrees about 45 minutes, or until squash is soft enough to pierce easily with knife.

Remove squash from oven and let cool briefly. When squash is just cool enough to handle, peel with sharp knife. Cut up peeled squash meat and put in food processor with butter. Puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Add apple and pulse processor just enough to finely mince apple into puree.

Spoon into warmed serving bowl and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about: 222 calories; 200 mg sodium; 31 mg cholesterol; 12 grams fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 3.35 grams fiber.