Match Restaurant's Recipe for Maple Braised Squash

The sweet flavors from the maple and the squash call for a wine that imparts sweetness of its own.  At the same time, I would stay away from a true dessert wine.  They tend to have syrupy, thicker bodies and the maple will already have that texture. 

The wine should have a touch of acidity to cut through the decadence.An ideal bottle to complement this is Robertson Winery’s 2015 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer.  It retails in Connecticut stores for around $9.99.  The wine, which comes from South Africa, hovers on the brink of dessert wine.  The late harvest makes it sweet without being rich.  One could also pair an Italian Muscato with the dish.

Maple Braised Squash

This recipe is based on a family of 8

Start with a pile of gorgeous locally grown squashes could be butternut delicata kabocha or acorn. Probably about 4 total.

Clean the squashes and peel the butternut and kabocha if you end up using those.

De-seed and Cut all the squashes in large single serving chunks so each thanksgiving guest would grab one or two nice chunks.

Place the squashes in a large pot and add 2cups of maple syrup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4lb of butter, a few black peppercorns, a few cardamom pods, a couple star anise, 1 clove, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 jalapeño cut in half and about 3 tablespoons of kosher salt.  Add water until the squashes are fully submerged. 

Bring the pot to a boil and then turn it down to a very slow simmer. 

Cook the squash until it is tender about 30-45 minutes.

Pull the squash out of the pot and reduce a little bit of the liquid and glaze the squash with it. Sprinkle with some brown sugar crumbs if you would like.

Reserve the liquid for a base of a delicious squash soup!

 Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Match & The Chelsea