My grandmother, when she was living, grew this mutant strain of butternut squash. The things were absolutely gigantic. A family friend got hold of some of the seeds, grew a few plants and now I’m in possession of one of these monster squash. I’m looking for tried and true recipes so I can have a plan of attack when this beast gets cut open. Each squash is good for at least 4-5 recipes. Recipes that freeze well will be much appreciated.
Butternut squash soup is an awesome way to utilize your squash.
I used this recipe recently as reference, but tweaked it to my tastes. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/smoky-butternut-squash-soup
I wanted to make a cross between a smooth, pureed squash soup with a corn chowder.
Using the recipe above, you should slice the squash really thin (so it cooks faster), along with the onion, and chipotles with adobo sauce (I recommend tasting one before you add it to decide the level of heat you want.) and simmer it in your chicken broth. Prepare a satchel of bay leaf, thyme and clove (so the clove is easier to fish out of the broth), and throw that in the pot to simmer with the rest.
After the squash is cooked through, remove the satchel and use a stick blender to puree the ingredients in the pot.
Add cubed chicken and sweet potato, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sweet potato is tender.
Throw in some frozen corn kernels and 2" pieces of the green part only of a bunch of green onions, and warm until the corn kernels are heated through.
Adjust to taste with salt and pepper.
Thanks for making me drool on my keyboard.
I’m trying this recipe tomorrow.
Yes, that is definitely going on the list. Hmm, that uses 8 cups of squash. Two or three more recipes like that and this whole squash might be used up.
I read this the other day but have no idea how it tastes. (too lazy to try it)
That’s an interesting idea. I may have to try it.
I made this recipe using butternut squash for Thanksgiving. It went over pretty well. It’s a very forgiving recipe, too. I didn’t bother much with measurements, and it still tasted great.
Oh, P.S., I actually made it twice: once I roasted the squash, and once I did the whole thing in the microwave. The apples and the squash need to be cooked separately because of their different cooking times. I actually liked the microwave version better, as it retained more moisture.
I love squash and apples. The microwave has always been my go-to method for precooking squash. They don’t make microwaves big enough for this squash, but I could do a hunk at a time.
Butternut squash (pumpkin in Australia) soup is a staple here. You can buy a good commercial version in any supermarket
The gold standard when making your own is to bake it first rather than cook it any other way. It makes a huge difference to the taste of the soup caramelizing the squash and making it taste nuttier.
You can use any recipe you like you simply bake the butternut, whole or in pieces first.
So bake until tender, put chunks in a pan with your stock and then whiz? I can imagine it would be lovely and caramelised and nutty! Onions in de pan first, I presume?
We like this recipefor a vegatable and bacon pilaf (ignore the use of the supermarket’s own brand stuff!). Very easy, one dish recipe. Note the tip to leave the skin on the squash - better flavour and greatly speeds up preparation.
Here’s another butternut squash soup recipe. We make this often, and guests always rave.
Butternut Squash Soup with Star Anise and Ginger Shrimp
Gourmet Magazine
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2/3 cup chopped shallot
1-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 whole star anise
1 tablespoon sweet curry powder
2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-3/4 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch pieces (5 cups)
4 cups chicken stock or broth
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Garnish: fresh cilantro
Toss shrimp with ginger in a bowl and marinate, chilled, no longer than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook shallot, garlic, anise and curry powder in butter in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until shallot is softened, about 5 minutes.
Add squash and stock and simmer, uncovered, until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove star anise. Puree soup in 2 batches in a blender until very smooth, about one minute per batch, then transfer to cleaned pan and keep warm, covered.
Sprinkle marinated shrimp with salt. Heat oil in a large skillet over moderately high heat, then sauté shrimp in batches, stirring, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes per batch, and remove to paper towels. Bring soup to a simmer and season with salt and pepper. Place in shallow soup bowls, mounding three shrimp in the center and garnishing with cilantro.
- Stir fried butternut squash with black bean paste:
Cut the squash into 1/2 inch or so cubes.
Get some black bean and garlic paste from the store. A smal jar goes a long way.
Stir fry the cubes in a little oil, adding a spoon of the paste near the end. Deliciously salty and garlicy.
- Baked:
Cut up cubes as above. Mix the cubes with cut up apple, nuts, dried fruit, whatever happens to be in your pantry with some brown sugar, butter and orange juice.
Bake until bubbly. Can NOT go wrong.
Very simple mashed and baked butternut squash.
Peel, cube, and boil the amount of squash you want to use. While the squash is cooking, toast pecans in a generous amount of butter until browned and droolworthy.
Drain squash, and mash with a bit of butter and healthy dollops of creme fraiche, salt and pepper to taste. If it’s watery, add a few bread crumbs. Stir in the browned butter pecans. You can also throw in some craisins, if you like. Turn into a buttered casserole dish, top with crispy fried onions, and bake at 350ºF for about half an hour.
It does freeze well – I’ve made this for my parents often.
This made me drool a little. I love black bean paste.
Chefguy, that is definitely going to be dinner sometime this weekend. It has shrimp, it has shallots, it has cilantro, it can’t be wrong.
Here’s a recipe for Oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Cranberries. The first time I made this the tartness of the cranberries was a bit much, so the second time I added a couple of teaspoons of honey during the mashing. Made for a very nice Thanksgiving side dish.
One word of caution: you may want to wait until the soup is finished before marinating the shrimp. More than 30 minutes and the shrimp may be mushy when cooked.
This is fabulous and I make it at every opportunity. If my husband did more than tolerate squash, we’d eat it at least once a week on pasta.
One (normal sized) butternut squash, peeled and cut into smallish cubes
An onion or two, cut into small wedges
A few garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Whatever greens you have in the crisper that are on the edge of usability
Ditto any fresh herbs that might do - sage, basil, thyme
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp or so dried herbs such as basil, thyme, or oregano
salt & pepper
olive oil
Most important is to preheat your oven to fairly hot - I think it’s 375 or 400 - and put a sheet pan into the oven to preheat too.
Mix up all your veggies and spices, and pour over enough oil to lightly coat everything. Dump it all on the hot pan and let it roast till it starts to caramelize, stirring stuff around a bit once or twice along the way.
Serve as a side dish, or mix with hot pasta and a bit of half and half or cream. Cover in freshly grated parmesan.
As you can see, this is a great fridge clean-out vehicle. More onion, some shallots, or roasted garlic cloves would be great. Any compatible vegetables could be thrown in. Don’t have any greens? Leave em out. Serving to the kiddies? Leave out the red pepper.
I bet you could even puree it all with broth and cream and make soup!
Mmm, I’m loving this thread.
I’ve made this bacon & butternut squash pasta from Cooking Light a couple of times, and it’s delish. Requires a metric assload of pots and pans, though, and I find the squash hard to peel (probably user error, heh). Roasted squash, bacon, some rosemary, all in a creamy cheesy sauce. Futsy but really really good.