Fall is for Roasting (Squash, Apples, Onions, and Chicken)

Sometimes, I'm just blown away by the brilliance of the universe.  Just as the evenings get cool and I start craving carbs, here at the CSA and in the Farmers' Markets are piles of squash that just need a nice half hour in a warm oven.  Could thousands of plants really have deloped over thousands of years to so perfectly answer drafty old New England houses and how much I love to gather with friends in a toasty kitchen?  Well, I guess evolution isn't something with which one has a personal relationship, but often it's at the turning of the seasons that I am most struck by the alignment between what we, in any given place, want and need to eat and what is just ripe and ready in that very place right around us. 

Apple-stuffed Roast Chicken with Roasted Squash, Potatoes, Apples, and Onion

Serves 4-6

Apple-stuffed Roast Chicken with Squash

2 cups bread cubes (fresh or stale)

1/4 cup butter

1 medium apple, peeled and cubed

1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper

1/4 tsp. curry powder

5 cloves garlic, halved

a 3-4 lb. chicken

1 large winter squash (acorn, butternut, or any other variety works perfectly), peeled, seeded and cubed

Toss all of the stuffing ingredients together. 

Set the chicken into a roasting pan and rub with salt and pepper.  Put stuffing into the cavity of the chicken, without overstuffing. 

Spread any extra aound the outside, mixed in with the squash.  Roast, uncovered, at 425 for about 90 minutes. 

Roasted Squash, Potatoes, Apples, and Onion

1 large red onion

4 small or 2 large potatoes

2 large Macoun Cortland apples

2 small or 1 medium winter squash (acorn, butternut, etc)

2 T olive oil

sea salt and pepper

Peel, seed and cube all of the ingredients, making sure the pieces are roughly all the same size.  Toss in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 425 for 30 minutes.

If you eat poultry, toss these with the squash and leftover stuffing from the chicken pan just before serving.  Otherwise, put into a serving bowl and toss.   The apples will have softened significantly (that's why we recommend these types, other apples hold their shape better when baking), and as you toss them they'll give a tangy sweet coating to the whole delicious pile.  This is so hearty it can work as a vegetarian main dish.