Let the pumpkins feed you breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Winter squash — along with turkey, eggnog, and perhaps your crazy aunt Bertha — has a place at most holiday tables. But unlike the others, there is a seasonal reason for the inclusion of winter squash. And by seasonal, I don’t mean holiday season. As the warm part of the year belongs to greens and tomatoes, the cold months belong to that hard-shelled, long-storing cucurbit.

In many English-speaking countries outside of the U.S., the word “pumpkin” refers to the entire diversity of winter squash. In the U.S., pumpkin is a particular type of this expansive family. If more people realized this, they would likely have at least one dish they could make from winter squash.

That dish would be pie. And the making of squash pies would be progress, because today most cooks and consumers seem to consider dealing with winter squash a chore, more like Christmas shopping than the gift that it is. I’m going to change that for good with three winter squash recipes that will give you a whole new perspective on this underappreciated staple. First, a chocolate squash pie that will make you hoard your squash like a squirrel stashing acorns. Next, a soup that’s as simple as it is satisfying. And finally, a roasted squash with roots that will have you popping those crispy chunks like potato chips.

Baking squash is a fine means to an end, like pie or soup, but left at that, a chunk of baked squash tends to remain on the plate after the action has moved to the living room couch. Here’s how to make squash into dishes that will be eaten for pleasure, not duty.

Chocolate winter squash pie

Bake the squash as described above, and as the squash is baking make a crust (or use a store-bought one). Then prepare the following chocolate sauce:

Mix half a cup of sugar and half a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. Melt half a stick of butter over low heat, add the chocolate-and-sugar mixture and stir it all together. Add more cocoa powder if you like your chocolate dark. Stir until completely combined, then add half a cup of milk. Pour the mixture into the crust (it should be about half an inch deep) and put the crust in the freezer.

Let the baked squash cool, then scoop the flesh out of the shell and into a food processor. For a two- or three-pound squash, add three medium eggs, a cup of milk (or soy milk, almond milk, etc.), and a tablespoon each of dried shredded coconut and cracked tapioca. Blend and taste. It will probably taste really good, so be careful. Note how sweet the squash mixture is, even in the absence of added sugar. Of course, the sweetened chocolate beneath the squash pie filling helps.

Once the chocolate sauce has frozen solid inside the crust, remove it from the freezer and add the squash mixture. Bake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Let the pie cool to room temperature so the chocolate layer doesn’t smear when you cut it.

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