rachelmanija | Help me make butternut squash edible to me

I've made this savory pancake, modified. Chives work instead of leek; more leek, or scallion and some onion and a bit of garlic, also work. The second time I microwaved the grated squash bits instead of dealing with the pan, and it was fine. Topping it with furikake or tiny anchovies instead of yogurt sounds pretty tasty to me.

Thanks! That looks good. I have tons of garlic sprouts growing, which also substitute for leeks/chives.

Garlic greens sound perfect for this! Also, envious--I love garlic greens, and with no farmer's market currently, I guess I won't have any this year.

Break up a head of garlic, and stick the cloves in a pot of dirt with the pointy ends up. They grow like lightning. You can just snip them off periodically.

*nods* I've planted the cloves that had begun sprouting in my kitchen, but I don't get L.A.-caliber sun and they're kind of spindly, apt to rot before they get anywhere.

Oh, what a shame. Yeah, the CA sun helps. And they don't get powdery mildew, unlike a lot of other things I've tried.

Try LED grow lights, if you have a place to put them that won’t bother you?

I might. Where I am it is possible for allium greens to have powdery mildew, so I'm not keen on setting up lights that would also be damp often. Hopefully next year I can buy some garlic greens, as I usually do.

I prefer squash in savoury dishes too. My favourite is a veggie pie with porcini mushroom, butternut squash (or pumpkin), eggs and two different kind of cheese. If it sounds like something you might like I can translate my Italian recipe for you.

That sounds delicious. I'd love the recipe, thanks.

Ingredients
1 ready rolled shortcrust party or puff pastry if you prefer (you can also make your own - have a recipe to share if you need/want it)
4 eggs
400 grams of squash
200 grams fresh mushrooms (when I don't have fresh mushrooms I use dried ones, 40/50 grams)
150 grams of robiola cheese (if not available another soft fresh cheese like ricotta will do)
100 grams grated Parmigiano reggiano or similar tasty cheese
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil
Salt pepper

1) Cook the squash in whatever wya you prefer. I usually cook mine in my pressure cooker because it's the fastest way, but you can roast it too. When the squash is cooked set aside to cool off.

2) Lightly brown the garlic clove in a pan with olive oil then add the mushrooms and cook them. If using dried mushrooms, first soak them in slightly warm water for 30 minutes. Then squeeze and cook as explained.

3) Beat the eggs. Mash the squash with a fork then mx it with the eggs and the two cheeses. Add salt and pepper.

4) line an oven-appropriate container with baking paper and the pastry dough. Then pour the egg-and-cheese mixture in it. Sprinkle the mushrooms on top.

5) Bake in the already warm oven (200 °C, sorry I can't do Fahrenheit - can't even spell it) for 30/40 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling of the pie is firm. It's best to let the pie cool a bit before serving.

*also thanks you for posting this*

Yay. I'm happy if this is useful.

Halve the squash, scoop the squash, throw in something -- bacon, butter, olive oil -- that has fat on goodly-dollop scale, and then throw in some approximation of turkey stuffing; leftover rice, cooked small grains, chopped greens (green onions, chives, etc.), bread crumbs, sauteed onions and/or garlic, contrast protein (nuts, shrimp, small-cube cubed leftovers of whatever), as you have those things to hand, then balance both squash halves on a cookie sheet, cover with aluminium foil, and bake at 350 F. "How long?" is this challenging question of squash size and wall thickness; at least 20 minutes per pound of halved-and-emptied squash.

I regret that I cannot offer recipes, but I do have ideas.

A miso cookbook I once read had a recipe for squash braised in a mix of broth and miso; I think subbing the fish sauce for miso would be different, but tasty.

Non-Asian, but a place local to me used to make a wonderful vegetable lasagna with cubed butternut squash, spinach and thick white sauce, heavily flavored with rosemary. You may or may not be interested in lasagna, but it could be adapted to a vegetable casserole.

Oooh, I might try that. As mentioned below, I've got one that braises kabocha with bacon in soy sauce and water with a bit of sugar; I could totally see a miso variant working, too.

I've had some excellent pumpkin curries over the years, my favourite being Tiyya Gummadi. (It talks about making a puree with dessicated coconut at the start, but if you do the onion/garlic/ginger paste starter instead and then substitute coconut milk for the cow's milk, it'll still taste good.) Also on the strong flavours front, squash works well in chilli con carne too, if I'm making veggie chilli with re-fried beans, I find that squash adds some much needed texture/structure to the dish.

I don't have a recipe offhand, but curried squash and garbanzos in coconut milk is an excellent dish.

I second the idea of curry; the combination of winter squash, chickpeas, coconut milk, and spinach or kale or other greens if you have them, is really good. I think I adapted a recipe for sweet potatoes in the same combination when I had gone overboard buying winter squash. You saute a couple of onions slowly, add diced ginger, garlic, and green chiles if you have them, otherwise use ground and dried equivalents, then add coconut milk and maybe some tomatoes with turmeric, coriander, and cumin; and then put in the other ingredients in the order of how long they take to cook. Some recipes have you add cinnamon or other sweet spices, but if you are going for savoriness to hold down the part of the squash flavor you dislike, I don't think you need those.

P.

Thirded, our traditional thing to do with various squash or greens that we can't identify that come in our farm share is to curry them with a protein.

Cube squash, potato, and sweet potato; chop up an onion and a carrot; put in a pan.

Heat a liberal amount of olive oil in a medium oven (180C) in a roasting tray (or baking tray).

Dump hot oil over the veg and shake so that everything is well coated. Season the shit out of it with salt and pepper. Pour veg back into the tray, arrange in a thin layer; ideally you don't want stuff on top of other stuff.

Return to oven and cook for maybe 45 min? Until potatoes look brown and crispy, onion is golden, etc.

We usually eat this with baked chicken breasts seasoned with BBQ or fajita spice mix.

This is basically what I was here to comment.
It also works if you don't bother to preheat the oil, just chop up whatever veg, toss with oil, salt (more than you think it needs), whatever spices, and bake until tender and a bit caramelized.

I like the sweet veggies savory-roasted this way as part of a salad with interesting greens (arugula is my fave), chevre or bleu or another creamy-sharp cheese, toasted nuts, and maybe some raisined cranberries or tart cherries.

The sweet veggies savory-roasted are also good with sauteed vigorous greens (collards or kale or turnip greens or mustard greens if you can tolerate the pungency) and topped with an egg prepared however you like an egg.

my favourite savoury squash recipe goes like so:

Thinly slice equal amounts of onion and squash. Add a can of chickpeas. Toss in oil and add chilli powder and salt to taste. Bake in casserole dish in 400F oven, stirring at least once partway through, for about 45 minutes or until the squash and onion are soft and going a little caramelized.

I'm very fond of this Venetian Agrodolce Squash:

Peel 1 lb winter squash-- I medium butternut is good-- and chop into 1/2 inch dice. Set aside. Plump 3 Tbsp raisins in boiling water; drain and set aside. Finely chop 1 tsp good-quality unsweetened chocolate. (Yes, really.)

In 1 Tbsp olive oil, cook 2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved, until dark brown; remove garlic and discard. (if doubling, double the oil but not the garlic.) Saute the squash in the garlic-flavored oil, over high heat, until tender-- this will take longer than you think it will. When the squash is almost done, add 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds or pine nuts and cook with the squash, until toasted. Add 2 Tbsp honey; let boil, and add the chocolate and 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar. Lower heat, add raisins, and cook gently until squash is coated in honey-vinegar-chocolate glaze. Finish with chiffonade of fresh herbs: mint, basil, or a combination.

Have they already been skinned? I've never had to, and would be reluctant. The outside of those suckers is really hard, and I'd be afraid of doing something stupid and cutting myself.

If skinned, then slice thin, coat in oil and seasoning, and roast. Then use in a pasta dish with flavors that offset the sweetness, such as sundried tomatoes.

If not skinned, first figure out how to safely skin and split each.

Butternut squash is pretty easy to peel with a vegetable peeler, in my experience. (You can't do this with most squashes because the exterior peel is too textured; butternut is the exception.)

Oh cool, did not realize that. Thanks for the correction. I obviously leapt to the wrong conclusion from The peeled ones in grocery stores looking like they came off a lathe.

I should try to look up a galette recipe. At our wedding reception we wanted a vegetarian option, and I wanted a taste of everything. All entrees, appetizers, and sides were tasty. The butternut squash galette, however, was by far best entree.

Okay, I went and looked up a squash galette and this looks outstanding and we may even have enough of the ingredients on hand that I could make it:

https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/recipe/butternut-squash-galette-smitten-kitchen

Update: I made the Smitten Kitten recipe this evening with the following modifications:

* I made two smaller galettes rather than one enormous one.
* I doubled the onions for the caramelized onions because it's almost impossible to have too many caramelized onions and we had a bag of red onions that were starting to look a little questionable.
* I used only one somewhat runty butternut squash.
* I had no fresh thyme, so I used dried.
* I used 3/4 c butter in the crust and also I substituted corn meal for the whole wheat flour.
* I had no fontine cheese but I did have a bag of Crystal Farms finely shredded Italian cheese (which is mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, and provolone).
* I skipped the egg wash.

It was DELICIOUS. Everyone in the family really, really liked it.

Awesome! I had immediately bookmarked the recipe, and now have additional incentive to try it out in the near future.

I should probably note that my other alteration was that I ignored their instructions for caramelizing the onions, since -- like almost all recipe writers -- they are unrealistic about how long it will take.

I started the onions FIRST. While they were caramelizing, I peeled and cubed the squash and got that in the oven, then made the dough. Then I cleaned up from the vegetable chopping. Then I unloaded the dishwasher. Then I took the squash out. Then I read Twitter for a while. The onions were done about an hour after I started them going. I use this recipe for caramelizing onions: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_caramelize_onions/ but really the main thing is that it takes A REALLY LONG TIME and YOU CANNOT HURRY THE PROCESS (much) so just start them way before it is time for the galette to go in the oven.

I'm planning on making another batch of cream of vegetable soup soon. It consists of chicken stock, potato, onion, and assorted cut-up veggies, plus some minced garlic and other spices. Once it's all cooked, I use the stick blender to blend it, and add milk or cream, and serve over cubed cheddar cheese.

I'm now wondering if caramelizing a couple of onions instead of just the usual boiling until soft would improve the soup enough to be worth the time.

I don't know how significant a flavor they would be in the soup because there's a lot of other stuff going on there. But caramelized onions are really good, and there are dishes where they're absolutely indispensable and definitely need to be caramelized (like the galette.)

To skin a recalcitrant winter squash (they're harder to do when a bit underripe), put half in a microwave for 30-45 seconds, then try again. I use a knife, and it's been fine.

Why would you need to skin them? The skin softens while cooking, and is edible.

This recipe probably has more moving parts than you want to try to deal with, but I love the squash part of it in the ramen and "roasted curried squash in a ramen soup" is probably do-able with fewer steps: http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/crockpot-crispy-caramelized-pork-ramen-noodle-soup-wcurry-roasted-acorn-squash/

Alternately, you could roast the butternut, mash it up, drain it for a bit, and turn it into pumpkin bread (but with butternut instead of pumpkin). Apparently most canned pumpkin is actually canned acorn squash, which explains why it's so much better than actual cooked pumpkin.

Canned pumpkin can legally be any winter squash, but I am pretty sure it is not acorn, as that has a slight stringiness no matter how you cook it.

My spouse also makes a butternut squash chili recipe; if that sounds good to you I could get the recipe from him.

I'm a big fan of squash in stews. Brown some cubed beef, chop up some garlic and onions and throw it all in a pot or crock pot with the cubed squash and a can of tomatoes. Add some red wine, some pepper, bay leaves, thyme, and whatever spices trick your fancy and just boil it on low until the meat's done. Sorry I don't have an actual recipe. I'm more a throw it in a pot and see what happens kind of gal.

I once experimented with an African recipe which called for squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and peanut butter and it was actually really good. Bay leaves again, plus onions, garlic, and hot pepper flakes.

You could make Taiwanese style pumpkin stir-fried vermicelli, with variations on whatever you have. Here's one recipe example:
https://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2018/10/pumpkin-rice-vermicelli.html

I personally grate the pumpkin or squash down (rather than cubing or julienning) and add later in the cooktime so it retains its shape, but I've seen other versions where the pumpkin is pureed so it coats the dish like a sauce rather. If you have vermicelli, that's great, but if not, you can probably just treat it like some variation of chow mein =)

Or you can blend it up and make mantou!
https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/steamed-pumpkin-buns-two-ways/

I can say that butternut squash makes a REALLY tasty soup and there's quite a few recipes for it online. Some might say you need to puree it, but really all you need to do is dice it up into smallish chunks (about 1" square or so) and cook it down until it's a mooshy mess and then just use a fork.

I mostly use pumpkin in savoury dishes, and butternut is one of the most versatile so I eat it often.

I love using butternut squash in a coconut cream based curry. I often make one with tofu or chicken, butternut, cauliflower, zucchini, and maybe some peas or other bright green something added toward the end.

Use the curry spices or paste of choice, I like to blend some yellow curry with red curry paste and add in some extra cumin and coriander. I'm going for more of a fragrant and warmly spiced dish than a super hot one.

Butternut does take a bit more cooking than other vegetables, so dice it into 1 inch cubes. First I usually fry the protein in the spices and aromatics, if using tofu you can remove it and set aside, or let it remain with the knowledge that it may fall apart. Then add the pumpkin and a cup of water, keep the heat up so it simmers along for about 5 minutes, and then add diced zucchini and cauliflower, and pour in a can of coconut cream plus a can of water. Bring to boil, then turn down to the lowest heat and let it burble for at least 15 minutes. Stir to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom, and when the pumpkin is soft but not disintegrating, add in any greens and cook for a couple more minutes.

Serve with basmati or jasmine rice.

Edited (numbers) 2020-04-14 03:14 (UTC)

In Australia, pumpkins are mostly (but not exclusively) used to make savoury dishes, so you might like to browse through some of the butternut recipes here and here.

I've only ever once eaten squash as a sweet dish, and that was pumpkin pie from an American friend!

I make a soup with it most often:

Cut squash in half and roast, cut side up, in oven for about an hour until the flesh is fragrant and soft. Scoop out flesh and discard skin and seeds.

Fry onions or leek in olive oil until soft (and garlic cloves if using), then add pumpkin and any chopped vegies you have on hand (I usually add carrot, parsnip and celery, sometimes zucchini or roast capsicum) plus about helf the weight of the pumpkin in roughly chopped potatoes.

You can also add about half a cup (dry) of yellow split peas or red lentils if you like - soak overnight or boil them to slightly soft consistency before adding. This is optional but adds a nice texture and some protein.

Add a bouquet of herbs tied with string (I usually use sage, rosemary and thyme but anything that goes with pumpkin is fine) and enough water to just cover everything.

Simmer until potato is soft, about 90 minutes. Remove herb bouquet, blend soup to desired consistency, eat with sour cream or plain yoghurt. Freezes beautifully.

I was about to suggest a Japanese dish I make with kabocha, when I remembered that the other major ingredient (and source of much of the savoriness) is bacon. If I'm wrong in my presumption that you don't eat bacon and also this sounds appealing to you, let me know and I'll share the recipe.

I LOVE bacon. Please provide the recipe.

I don't follow kosher laws, even to the minimum of not eating pork.

Okay! I couldn't remember where you fell on that particular question, only that you'd recently been posting about Passover -- I was literally halfway through typing up the suggestion when I thought "wait, am I being an idiot?" :-)

Chop roughly 7-8 oz of squash into roughly 1-inch chunks, peeling off the rind. (With kabocha you can leave part of it on for decorative purposes; I don't think that would work with butternut.) Cover and nuke for three minutes to get it started on the cooking. Put it in a saucepan with 3-4 slices of bacon cut into large chunks with 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon (or a bit more) of soy sauce, and about half a tablespoon (or less) of sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the squash is the desired texture. Dump over rice and garnish with parsley if so desired.

This theoretically feeds two. In practice, I don't think I've ever found even half a kabocha that's small enough to match the recipe. :-P Simmering time depends on the condition of the squash. But in general this is dead easy and pleasingly salty; I like the sugar balancing that out a bit, but if you really want to go savory you could probably leave it out. It reheats fine, too.

Hahaha, no. An understandable mistake to make, though.

Thank you, this sounds PERFECT. Do you cook the bacon before putting it in with the squash and water?

Nope! You just braise it with everything else. You won't get a crunchy texture (obviously).

Ha, you can substitute mushrooms with (or simply add) bacon in my veggie pie recipe. I've done it several times! Can't believe I forgot to add it. Though in my case it was pancetta, not bacon. :D

I like kabocha in Japanese curry, so I think butternut squash would work, too. Also tempura.

Cut 'em in half, remove the seeds, roast them.

Then scoop out the flesh, mix with salt, pepper, flour, eggs and make into pasta.}:P

Or, leave out the flour, add ricotta cheese and use it as a filling for ravioli.

A brown butter (butter heated until the milk solids start to brown) and sage sauce is yummy on them.

My favourite is to cube it and roast it with chopped rosemary, and then use the cubes in a risotto. The recipe is here, under Main Dishes.

This is probably for After the Plague (whenever that is), but I looooove pumpkin stir fried with salted egg yolks, and I'm pretty sure it would be fine with butternut squash. This recipe looks pretty close to how I try to make it: https://allasiarecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-salted-egg-yolk/

This one looks like more effort but sounds delicious: https://eatwhattonight.com/2016/04/crispy-salted-egg-yolk-pumpkin/

I guess if you were really ambitious you could try to make your own salted eggs? https://www.kawalingpinoy.com/salted-eggs/ I have never tried making them, but now I'm sort of tempted.

...Although hopefully by the time they would be done brining, you will have had the chance to just go buy them in an Asian supermarket!

Although making salted eggs the traditional way sounds like an interesting project and the resulting eggs are said to be better in taste and texture, I don’t think I’d be messing around with anthills anytime soon.

LOL.

Hmm. I'm tempted to try making salted eggs myself, but all things considered I probably will end up waiting till I can buy them at the market. Though if this goes on for long enough I will either go to a market anyway, or get desperate enough to try making them.

I had a soup once with squash and fresh ginger and I think carrot, but it would probably be more trouble than it's worth without a pureeing instrument. I did think the ginger went really well with the squash, though! (I am also not a huge fan of squash.)

My favourite squash recipe is a slow-cooked pasta sauce, which needs a blender (though I suppose you could mash it through a sieve if you were feeling really keen). Otherwise, the following goulash is one that I make pretty much every squash season:

1 tsp sunflower oil (or whatever you normally use for frying; nothing too strong, though)
1 onion, chopped.
1 red (bell) pepper, chunked.
1 clove garlic, crushed.
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds
375g pumpkin or squash, thickly sliced, peeled and de-seeded.
1 large carrot, thick sliced,
75g red lentils, rinsed.
450ml stock (vegetable if you're vegetarian, of course; otherwise chicken would also work)
4 tsp tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste
plain yoghurt to finish.

Preheat oven to 180º C.

Heat oil, brown onions (roughly 5 mins). Add red pepper, garlic, paprika and caraway seeds. Stir in and fry for 1 min.

Add everything else bar the yoghurt, and bring to the boil. Cover and cook in the oven for about an hour.

To serve, top bowls of goulash with yoghurt and sprinkle on extra caraway seeds and paprika. Serve with rice, mashed potato, crusty bread, any sort of starch, really.

Help me make butternut squash edible to me

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Not Asian, but Italian-esque

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