Why Not Butternut?

| Flower Roberts

Okay, I admit it.  I did not plant the butternut squash.  It came up from the compost.

It has taken over my vegetable garden and the neighbors’ yard.

The leaves are lovely.

It has produced dozens of giant squash.

I have made various delicious recipes with them.

BUT…

When I try to give them away, there is a pause, then a polite ” No thank you.”

Why are folks rejecting my gifts of yummy squash?

The ones who do take one ask “How do I cook it?”

So I figured I would do some Butternut squash PR for my poor rejected produce.

First, a stout knife is needed to cut off both ends. This is the secret to easily cutting up the rest.

After the ends are removed you can do one of two things.

Baking requires removing the seeds, brushing the flesh with olive oil,  and putting the halves skin side up on a sheet covered with parchment  paper. Bake the halves until you can easily stick a knife in them.

Then let them cool and scope out the flesh or use your knife to cut off the skin.

I then go either salty or sweet with this. It can be sauteed with onions and garlic OR baked with nutmeg, ginger, pumpkin spice… It’s good no matter.

I ate some last night with no spices at all.

I also make soup in my Instant Pot.

Saute onions and sage in olive oil. Then saute a couple handfuls of the raw squash cubes with that. Then add four cups of vegetable broth with fresh ginger and nutmeg with the rest of the squash cubes.

Cook on the “soup” setting. Then I pour some out into my Ninja blender. Do NOT over-fill or it blows out the spout onto the wall and the coffee maker and the bag of coffee and the tea bag box…

This is COMFORT FOOD! I feel like I am drinking vitamins.

So now you know.

Embrace a BUTTERNUT and get cooking.

FLOW

 

 

28 thoughts on “Why Not Butternut?”

      1. Here’s my more complete tip. I cook the equal amounts of apples and onions together until the onions are translucent. Then, I add the cooked, cube squash, and cook it all down, adding whatever spices (especially nutmeg). Then, I puree it. At that point, it’s easy to freeze the concoction, and add milk or cream after thawing! Works like a dream, and takes up less space in the freezer.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Oh wonderful. I envy you, cos I am not good with squash at all. They usually keep well don’t they? I love having them at Christmas. Roast butternut squash, topped with garlic, mushrooms and cashews for brilliant veggie dinner!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Instead of heating up the oven in this 95 degree heat, microwave it. Much faster and just as good. Works well with spaghetti squash also, which is also delicious! Bring some over and I will gladly accept!!!!!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. What an awesome harvest. I love squash and think it goes really well with Thai flavours. I make soup and a curry using lemongrass and ginger, galangal and lime leaves as seasoning and coconut milk instead of cream. Yummy!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Ah butternut squash – have been cooking it for years and it is delicious.. People do not seem to take any of my extra butternut either. They normally do not know what it is. I cook and freeze extra for another day. Makes a mild form of pumpkin pie if you use the same spices you use for pumpkin pie.. Love butternut soup. Great Post.

    Like

    Reply

  12. Wow Flower.. I couldn’t have landed upon this post at a better time, we harvested our butternut squash this morning and I love it to make soups etc.. I also add to bulk out curry recipes, I hadn’t thought to roast as you had shown, so thank you flower for that tip..
    And for the step by step guide, very useful 😀 and Love it when we get freebies in the garden.. We harvested 25 butternut squash from 6 original plants 🙂 So you did well 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.