Help me make butternut squash edible to me

[rachelmanija]

I have two butternut squashes (hard-skinned yellow squash), delivered to me as an emergency substitution for something I actually like. I can't return them because coronavirus, I don't generally like squash, and my neighbors don't want them.

My exception to the squash hate is when it's a savory dish that tones down the sweetness. The only time I've ever liked pumpkin was a savory dish I had at a banquet in Taipei with, I think, dried shrimp. Please suggest to me a savory dish, ideally some kind of Asian, which I can make with this squash.


I do not have dried shrimp, but I do have fish sauce and furikake. I don't have pureeing equipment.

Comments

[thomasyan]

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.

[naomikritzer]

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

[naomikritzer]

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.

[thomasyan]

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

[naomikritzer]

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.

[carbonel]

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.

[naomikritzer]

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.)