Wood Fired Oven, Eden Vale Inn Bed and Breakfast

Gayle and I took a trip to San Franciso and did a lot of poking around kitchen stores. We came back with four more cookbooks including several on wood fired grilling and wood fired ovens. We're looking to expand the cuisine baked in the wood fired oven at Eden Vale Inn Bed and Breakfast near Placerville.

We stoked wood in the oven for about seven hours raising the temperature to about 700 degrees. The remaining coals were gathered into a pile and Gayle placed a whole Kabocha squash right in the coals. Meanwhile, slices of Delicata squash coated with olive oil were sizzling on a cast iron skillet placed in the oven. She picked some mustard greens out of the garden and tossed them on top. Once the Kabocha squash reached 150 degrees internally it was pulled out of the coals and split in half horizontally. The seeds were scooped out and the Delicata squash, mustard greens and some goat cheese were put in the cavity and the meat of the squash was pulled away from the sides. The top was drizzled with a mint-infused red wine vinaigrette. The verdict? Fabulous!