I found a new cooking pal this week Tiffani Thiessen, on the Cooking Channel’s “Dinner at Tiffani’s”, her new show. You probably remember her from the 90’s sitcom, Saved by the Bell.  Well she is all grown up, married with a 5-year-old daughter and another one on the way.  And she is gorgeous, as is her husband Brady Smith.  She invites celebrity friends over for dinner and they catch up in the kitchen as friends do while cooking.  Most of the cooking is done by Tiffani, but then it’s her show and she is the chef.  And a pretty good chef at that.  I did a little half-day “marathon” and watched all five episodes so far and cooked at least one recipe from each show, which is something I have not done before. But, you kinda feel you have to when you see her recipes and realize you can cook something great in a short period of time.  Her food looks amazing and when she and her friends sit down to eat, you really, really, really wish you were there eating too – it looks that Yummy!  I am having friends over later in the month so decided to try out her Roasted Acorn Squash with Spicy Maple Glaze.  I adapted it a bit (no Bourbon for me, but Cognac works, and I added some chives and chopped bits of bacon as that is how we had it as kids).  This took less than 10 minutes to prepare and then you are ready to serve a yummy vegetable for family and friends.  Try this, it’s really tasty!  And check out Dinner at Tiffani’s when you get a chance – you will love it!

Ingredients:
1 medium size acorn squash
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
Chives
2 strips crisp bacon
1 Tbl Cognac
Pinch of Kosher Salt
Dash of onion powder
Olive Oil
Parchment Paper

Roasted Acorn Squash

Method:
1. Wash and dry acorn squash. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut squash in half, then halves into quarter, then quarter again, so you get half-moon circles.
2. Place parchment paper on a sheet pan and lay down your squash wedges. Lightly pour olive oil on the squash and move around till well covered. Add onion powder and Kosher salt then add to oven and roast for 20 minutes.
3. On stove top add maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, and bring to a boil then turn down to low immediately. Add Cognac carefully and let the alcohol cook off – set aside.
4. Chop the crisp bacon into bits and chop the chives.
5. Take out the acorn squash and paint with the Cognac glaze then put back in oven for 10 minutes. Take out and turn over and baste the other side and back in oven for last 10 minutes.
6. Plate the acorn wedges on a plate and sprinkle chopped chives and bacon on top and Serve!

Roasted Acorn Squash with Cognac Glaze

Serves: Two