The working title for this post was “The Taste of Fall”, but Jens thought it sounded too twee. Actually, I used the word “twee”, I think he just made a face.

Jens: I like recipes that are simple enough that you can just say, “Throw the rest in the pot.”

We also had a delicious wild mushroom pasta dish, post to come soon. Update: post has arrived.

Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, cubed
Save seeds; rinse and dry
1 small onion
3 small green squashes, thinly sliced, no need to peel (ed. note: I have no idea what a green squash is. Jens says they’re round and small.)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (or use the frozen garlic cubes from Trader Joe’s)
1 packet of Trader Joe’s vegetable stock
3 quarters tsp of Better than Bouillon (chicken stock)
olive oil
salt
pepper
Herbamare
nutmeg
cinammon
(not used here, but Jens would like to add carrot next time)

Instructions:
1. Set oven to 425°, and prep squash by peeling, cubing, and saving the seeds. Rinse and dry the seeds.

2. Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Place squash on one and a half of the sheets – the seeds go on the empty half of one of the sheets. (alternatively you could use a really large tray for the squash and a small one for the seeds). Drizzle with olive oil. Season with black pepper and salt. Toss to coat evenly and spread out squash so that it can brown. Roast until golden brown and slightly caramelized; stir once at some point. It took the squash about 50 minutes. The seeds will be done before the squash, about 35 minutes.

Jens would like to interject here: Despite the amount of work by roasting the seeds, it’s totally worth it! They make the dish.

3. While the squash is roasting, slice the green squash into thin slices and roughly chop the onion. Sauté the garlic, onion and squash in some olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Don’t stir too frequently in order to maximize browning. This will be done before the squash is finished in the oven; just hang out (or in this case, make another dish! Check out the mushroom pasta that was eaten with the soup.)

4. Start a pot boiling with about a 1 1/2 cups water. Add the veg stock packet and chicken bouillon and boil it for a minute to dissolve. Then throw in the green squash, garlic and onions.

5. Once the squash is done roasting, reserve a few cubes for garnish and throw the rest in the pot. Season with cinnamon and nutmeg. You can also try some ginger and/or cayenne if you’d like some spice in your life. Let it cool (possibly while eating the mushroom pasta you made!), then use an immersion blender to puree.

6. Garnish with reserved squash and roasted seeds, and more cinnamon if you’re feeling sassy.

Saturday, November 6th, 2010, 7:19 pm   |   Weekend cookery  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback