It can be challenging to make acorn squash taste good without tons of butter, brown sugar and  cinnamon. This time I made a sriracha/apricot glaze for this acorn squash and I thought seasonal summer fruit of nectarines, cherries and almonds would go well here and they do! This dish came out overall savory but also is a little sweet with a building heat that isn’t too hot.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 medium – large sized acorn squash – cut in half, scoop out seeds cut each half in four wedges so you have eight

non stick spray

1 nectarine or a peach – remove pit and cut in eight wedges

16 cherries – pitted

1/3 cup apricot spread – all fruit no sugar added

3 Tablespoons sriracha – I used Shark Brand other brands have more heat and some have a metallic taste so you will want to use less if you use a different brand or to your taste.

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground all spice

16 almonds – crushed well

2 Tablespoons panko bread crumbs

2 scallions cut thinly on a diagonal

Fresh ground sea salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

Spray baking sheet lightly with non stick spray.

Lay the squash wedges in two rows of four.

Put a nectarine wedge inside of each squash wedge.

If you didn’t pit your cherries pit them now with a straw.

Put a cherry on each end of each nectarine wedge.

In a small bowl mix together the apricot spread with the sriracha .

Pour over squash and fruit.

Sprinkle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with allspice.

Sprinkle with almonds and panko.

Use fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste.

Put in 425 degree F oven for about 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Sprinkle with scallions to serve.

I think what made the flavors pop was the cherries….They just added something really great to these flavors.