Wednesday, November 23, 2011

My gift to you: the Butternut Squash recipe

Well my darlings, I know it's late, but I also know that the markets are still open this evening for most of you, and will be open in the morning for last minute needs, so I am gifting to you my family's butternut squash recipe, which is to die for, and a nice alternative to mashed potatoes.

1 Large Butternut squash, halved and the seeds removed
2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
4oz Parmesan cheese, grated
4oz of Gorgonzola (or other blue) cheese, crumbled.
1 large onion
some sage
salt and pepper.
some room temperature butter

1. Halve the butternut squash lengthwise with a sharp knife.  Place the squash on a jelly roll pan (like a cookie sheet, but it has and 1" lip all the way around) face down and hide a clove or two of garlic under the squash in the cove where the seeds used to be. 
2. slather the outside "skin" of the squash with some butter.
3. Pop that in a 400 degree oven for 60-70 minutes.

4.  Dice the onion.  Heat up a skillet with a blob of butter in it and when the butter starts to turn brown, throw the diced onion in and sauté.  When the onion begins to wilt, throw in a pinch of sage, and some salt and pepper and continue to sauté until you think they cooked through.

5. Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes or so. Then scoop the cooked squash into a big bowl.  Discard the skins. Seriously, throw them out because you don't want to eat them - yucky!
6. In the bowl mash up the squash and the garlic, add the cooked onions, and the two cheese together.  You can either mash it all together or blend it, however you want the texture to be.
7. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with a little sprinkle of the Parmesan cheese.

BONUS!

You can make this ahead and substitute an oven ready dish.  Just stick it in the fridge and then reheat for an hour at 350 before you serve.  (I don't recommend using a microwave because it can blob and splatter all over.)



OR

You can buy frozen puff pastry - following their instructions for thawing and filling and use this recipe in the filling.  Great for cocktail parties.

Simple and TASTY!  And I guarantee you that no one else will bring this like they will that green-bean casserole.

3 comments:

  1. This looks good--I'll have to adapt it for Taiwan.
    Happy Thanksgiving,
    Road to Parnassus

    ReplyDelete
  2. Get yourself a microwave splatter cover.

    Works for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CAn we bung it in the freezer! Happy TG

    ReplyDelete