Dressed-Up Squash Toasts to Sustain

Eating in the hours leading up to Thanksgiving dinner is a tricky business. You don’t want to spoil your appetite before the big meal, nor will you feel any better for skipping lunch. Rather than sit down for a respectable snack, I end up grazing on bites plucked from hot pans and handfuls of pie dough scraps baked with cinnamon sugar. By dinnertime I’m a jittery mess, already nursing a stomachache and kicking myself for not planning a healthier snack.

A simple appetizer is a nice way to keep you and your guests happy during the lead-up to dinner, but it needn’t be a complicated affair—this year, I’ll be serving a tray of simple and seasonal squash-topped toasts. They can be prepped completely in advance and assembled in mere minutes. Plus, they go well with other Thanksgiving flavors and won’t fill you up too much. The toasts are topped with buttery mashed squash, crispy roasted squash seeds, salty goat cheese crumbles, juicy pomegranate seeds, and a drizzle of tangy pomegranate molasses. They look as festive as they taste—almost as if they’re topped with edible confetti.

These toasts are so easy, they hardly even require a recipe. The squash is simply cut in half and roasted until tender, after which the soft flesh is scooped out and mashed with butter and salt. Acorn squash is one of my favorites to use, but butternut squash would also work well. I had initially intended to garnish the toasts with toasted almonds, but as soon as I cut into the squash and saw those beautiful seeds staring back at me, I knew they’d make the perfect crunchy topping. I toss them with olive oil and salt, pepper, and cayenne, then roast them until they’re dark golden brown and crispy to use up every bit of the squash.

Every component of this recipe can be prepared a few days in advance, so it needn’t cut into your precious cooking time on the big day. The mashed squash will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator, while the seeds, baked off up to four days in advance, can be kept at room temperature. No one has the time to wrestle with a pomegranate on Thanksgiving Day, but luckily the seeds will also keep for a few days in the refrigerator. You can even slice the bread and freeze it until it’s time for toasting. With all the prep done ahead of time, the toasts come together in no time for a tasty, nutritious appetizer to hold you over until the big meal—or round out the holiday table.