• ½ cup roughly chopped hazelnuts (smaller than the picture, at least quartered)
• 2-4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2-4 tbsp Stonehouse House Blend or Olio Santo (depends how big the squash are, you can always add more)
• 4 delicata, halved and seeded
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp maple syrup (or dark brown sugar)
• Kosher Salt
• couple shakes of Aleppo pepper flakes (Korean, Marash or plain ole red will do)
• 8 1” tips of fresh rosemary leaves, if you have a plant, or equivalent amount from a store bunch (or splash of Rosemary EVOO if no fresh)
• 8 2” tips of sage leave from a plant, if you have it, or equivalent amount from a store bunch
• 1 lemon, for squeezing over squash at the end, you just want a bit of fresh juice per half
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

Rub squash all over with olive oil, then salt, lay face down on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for easy clean up, and pop in the oven. If you don’t have parchment lightly oil the sheet. Roast @400 for approx. 30 minutes, check it at 20 and rotate if needed. You want the squash to carmelize but not burn (like they are in the pix!) They’re done when a knife pierces them easily, but don’t do this too many times or the sauce you’ll put in later will leak out.

While the squash is roasting: in a small, dry frying pan, toast the hazelnuts over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.

With about 5 minutes left before the squash are done, in a small saucepan over medium heat warm a 50/50 butter olive oil mix with a pinch or 2 of salt and slow-fry the sage leaves, turning once or twice, about 5 minutes, until crisp, then take out and lay on a paper towel. You’ll add the sage leaves on top at the end so you want them crisp. (If you bought a sage bunch from the store you may want to fry it all if you're not going to use it for another dish, as it's such a great snack and otherwise you might forget about/waste it.)

Add the toasted hazelnuts to the butter/oil mix, add brown sugar or maple syrup, pepper flakes, rosemary, a pinch or 2 more of salt, and cook until the rosemary becomes fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Add the water (the original recipe calls for stock), a little bit at a time, and continue to cook until you have an emulsified, slightly thickened pan sauce. Taste, adding salt, pepper, etc, to your liking. You want it to skew on the salty/heavily flavored side as it's for a whole half of squash. You'll need about 1 tablespoon per half so add more butter/oil if needed. Remove from heat and spoon the sauce over the squash, getting equal amounts of sauce/hazelnuts into each half.

Finish with a squirt of lemon juice, a twist of black pepper, a pinch more of chili flakes for color, the sage leaves, a crunch of Maldon sea salt and serve. This is a great salty/sweet/little bit of heat & herb dish, our favorite kind! 

VARIATIONS:

• Add a sprinkle of Chipotle Honey, Harissa or Za'atar in this recipe!

 
Photo credit: Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott