Growing up, I loved butternut squash. We didn’t, to my recollection, have it often but I thought it was one of the best things ever. Of course, the way mom made it might have a great deal to do with why I loved it so.
I have a bunch of butternut squash from my CSA lying around, and walking home today, I told Bill that I wanted to figure out how to use some of it for dinner tonight. I also mentioned I want to make some more risotto, to use up our arborio rice, but we didn’t want to combine the two. We’ve made a butternut squash risotto recipe (a “challenge” recipe, even) a couple of times, and it’s never quite right. Which is bad enough, but the recipe makes enough for a small army…
He mentioned we could just roast it, and we’re feeling a bit lazy. So I think dinner tonight is just going to be roast butternut squash like my mom used to make. It’s not totally perfect, and my friend Marty would say this isn’t a meal. That’s okay, maybe it’s not, but it’ll be enough for tonight, and tasty and easy too.
h2. Ingredients
1 medium to large butternut squash
~2 tbsp butter (Err low if you’re just kind of eyeballing it)
~2 tbsp brown sugar (Light or dark, either works)
Water for the bottom of the pan
h2. Instructions
Place a small amount of water in the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ roasting pan. Just enough to cover the bottom by a quarter to half inch or so. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Slice the stem end off the butternut squash. Leave the flower end intact, for now. Slice the squash in half, lengthwise, then seed the squash completely.
Place a dollop of butter in the cavity of each squash half. If you’re like me (and not my mom, I don’t think), do a light smear of butter on the thicker, non-cavity parts of the squash. Then, drop a spoonful of brown sugar in each cavity, and (again, just me, I think) sprinkle some brown sugar on the thicker squash parts.
Roast in the oven until the thickest part of the squash is fork-tender.
h2. Cooking and Consumption Notes
h3. Cooking
Okay, this isn’t technically roasting, because of the water, but it’s also not braising because there’s no cover to keep the water in. I actually don’t know why my mom put the water in the bottom, or if that’s even the amount she put in.
Also, all my water is now evaporated. I don’t care. I probably did something wrong.
Don’t cut the flower end off your squash. It really makes your squash cavity much more leaky…
h3. Consumption
I’ll make Bill fill in this part later. I can’t right now, because the squash is still cooking. Plus, I don’t think he’s ever had it this way, while memories are one of the ingredients in this recipe for me (see the comments).
I make it that way, too, with the water in the bottom of the pan in the oven. I think the water is just there so it doesn’t burn, and so the squash gets nice and soft.
In fact, I made that too tonight, but it was to make soup out of it. It came out great!
I think you’re right about the water. I also suspect it might help making clean-up easier.
Our squash came out fabulously as well. We ate most of it, and I’ll do an easy reheat of the last of it for dinner.
What’s the “flower end”? I never see my squashes in the wild. I’m going to assume you mean its fat butt?
Didn’t you grow zucchini this year? It’s the same idea.
Anyway, yes, the fat butt end, if you will.