Delicata and Chevre Tacos

Tender squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese, black beans, and adobo come together with surprising ease to create a sweet, spicy, tart chorus of flavors that you need to be shoveling into your face ASAP. Quick enough for a weeknight dinner, and easily scalable for a crowd, delicata and chevre tacos taste incredible and make for a well-balanced meal.

Ingredients
Makes 12 tacos

• 1 medium delicata squash
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp adobo seasoning
• 1 15-oz black beans (or black refried beans)
• ? oz chevre cheese
• A handful fresh cilantro (optional)
• A handful of roasted pepitas (optional)
• Hot sauce of choice (optional)
• 12 corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C). Check if your adobo has salt. If so, no need to add any. If not, remember to add a 1/4 tsp salt to the squash with the adobo.

Wash the delicata and slice in half lengthwise. Use a large spoon to scoop out all the seeds and guts and discard. Turn the halves flat-side down on the cutting board and use a chef’s knife trim the ends. Slice the delicata the short way into 1/4 inch slices. Toss the slices with 1-2 tbsp olive oil and the adobo seasoning and spread them over a sheet pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring once in the middle, until the squash is tender, but not falling apart.

As soon as the squash is in the oven, quarter the onion, peel the outer layers off, and then slice. Heat a small saucepan over medium-low heat and add about a tbsp of olive oil, then all of the onion. Cook for about 25-30 minutes. The heat should be low enough that the onion doesn’t brown quickly, and the sizzling is fairly quiet. Stir periodically, and if you start to get lots of brown bits sticking to the pan, deglaze it with a little water and then continue cooking. Once the onion is brown and soft and greatly reduced in volume, deglaze before removing from the heat.

Meanwhile, wash and chop the cilantro, and crumble the chevre. I like to put each ingredient out in a small bowl and then let everyone make up their own tacos. If using whole black beans, rather than refried, rinse and drain them and stir in a sprinkle of garlic powder, or extra adobo. Place the beans in a small bowl and microwave for about a minute or put them in a small pot and heat over low heat until hot. Wrap the stack of tortillas in aluminum foil.

When the squash is done, turn off the oven and put the tortillas in for about 10 minutes until warm and pliable. This is a good time to finish any prep that you didn’t get to, let the onions cook a bit longer if they aren’t looking caramelized enough, or wash dishes.

Place a couple tortillas on each plate. Load them up with a little bit of everything, sprinkle with hot sauce and pepitas, if desired, and serve while it’s still warm!