I’d be happy to eat squash every day. There are so many varieties and variations, You can get fancy, but there’s nothing wrong with a quick toss in oil, some salt/pepper and an oven bake.

This recipe is a tiny bit more interesting, and includes cardamom - which I love! It is inspired by a dish I had in a resto and struggled to recreate, mind you I know that the resto did a quick deep fry and my preference was to avoid that. My online research led me to a recipe from “In Search of Yumminess”. Visit her site for the original. I fiddled with the ingredients (so can you!) according to taste preferences.

1 small squash - Delicata or Acorn

Wash and dry the squash. Slice it in half lengthwise. Clean out the seeds and pulp leaving no pulp or strands behind. Cut it into half moon slices about 1/2” thick. Place the slices on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil.

2 TB unsalted butter, plus 2 tsp more if needed for a larger squash
2 - 3 tsp pure maple syrup
1 to 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 - 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

salt and pepper

Melt the butter and mix it with all these ingredients, in the quantities that suit your preferences.

Use a brush to spread the butter mixture onto the squash. Sprinkle each slice with salt, pepper to taste. Turn the slices over and repeat. Any leftover butter mixture can be used to “pretty up” the slices after they come out of the oven.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, flipping each slice over at the half-way mark. Do keep an eye on this, since the maple syrup introduces the possibility that it cold burn if overcooked. Serve right away.