I don't know if I'm the only person who does this, but during the summer time I love light healthy food like fruit, salads, and sushi, but during the winter time I want heavy fatty food. I guess that is an evolutionary thing, fatten up to keep you warm during the cold and slim down to balance out the heat? At any rate, my favorite kind of comfort foods are always starchy, full of cheese or butter, and very bad for you. So on Thanksgiving, as I was looking over my menu I realized it needed something more healthy to balance out the table. So while trying to think of a vegetable I could make, I came up with the following recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 Butternut squash
- Chopped walnuts
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Vermont Maple Syrup
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Half the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the squash directly on the oven, skin side down and roast until the insides are soft when poked with a fork. (If you want to minimize the mess, put them on the top rack and put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to catch any juices that might come out.
3. When the squash in done cooking, take off the skin and cut it into cubes. Put it in a baking dish with walnuts and cheese (making sure there are nuts and cheese on all layers, not just the top).
4. Drizzle the syrup on top, then cover the dish and cook in the oven until the cheese melts a little bit.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label butternut squash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label butternut squash. Show all posts
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Butternut Squash & Pumpkin Soup
I am so stressed out right now. I have a midterm in my Research Methods class on Tuesday and I want so badly to do well. I've been studying, going to/having review sessions, and doing my best to prepare. But today, I hit a wall and had to do something to release the tension I'm feeling right now. When my study group comes over, we all contribute something and have a very nice meal in the middle of our studying. So I think I used today's break to do some stress relieving via cooking. I made a quiche, a salad, and soup. Nothing too crazy and involved, but in complete silence, I just spent 2 hours in my kitchen cooking, cleaning, and generally being as calm as possible.
I had some leftover squash and needed to make something with it so created a soup recipe based off of one in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that Nick got me for Christmas last year. It is Butternut Squash and Pumpkin and it came out much better than I thought.
Ingredients:
- half of a Butternut Squash
- 1 sugar pumpkin
- 1 half of an onion
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of cream
- 2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon (or more depending on taste)
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your squash and pumpkin in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds. Place directly on oven rack and roast for 45-60 minutes. You'll know it's done because the insides will be soft when you poke it with a fork.
2. When you have about 10 minutes left for the squash to cook, melt butter and olive oil together in a medium-large pot (you don't need a soup pot for this). When the butter is melted add your sliced up onion and cook.
3. Once the squash and pumpkin are done cooking, remove from the oven and scoop out the edible insides (ie. you don't need the skin).
4. First put the butternut squash in a blender and add the cooked onions (leave the butter and oil in the pot). Add one cup of stock and blend until liquified. Once this is done, dump it back in your pot. Next take the pumpkin and repeat the same process with one more cup of stock.
5. When everything is back in the pot (and the heat turned on low), add the last 1/2 cup of stock and the 1/2 cup of cream. Then add your seasonings. (I didn't add salt because the stock itself was very salty.)
6. Taste test and see if you need to add any more seasonings. Nick and I thought it needed a bit more cinnamon, so we did another sprinkling, but not everyone likes their squash soup with that much.
We cut up some sourdough bread and dipped it and it tasted so good. I'm not a big fan of broth soups, and I made chicken soup last week, so I'm really happy to have something else in the house. The fall and winter are obvious great times for soup eating, and what better soup to celebrate Halloween with than with the seasonal vegetables of pumpkin and squash? I guess my stress was good for something!
Hope you enjoy it!
I had some leftover squash and needed to make something with it so created a soup recipe based off of one in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that Nick got me for Christmas last year. It is Butternut Squash and Pumpkin and it came out much better than I thought.
Ingredients:
- half of a Butternut Squash
- 1 sugar pumpkin
- 1 half of an onion
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of cream
- 2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon (or more depending on taste)
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your squash and pumpkin in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds. Place directly on oven rack and roast for 45-60 minutes. You'll know it's done because the insides will be soft when you poke it with a fork.
2. When you have about 10 minutes left for the squash to cook, melt butter and olive oil together in a medium-large pot (you don't need a soup pot for this). When the butter is melted add your sliced up onion and cook.
3. Once the squash and pumpkin are done cooking, remove from the oven and scoop out the edible insides (ie. you don't need the skin).
4. First put the butternut squash in a blender and add the cooked onions (leave the butter and oil in the pot). Add one cup of stock and blend until liquified. Once this is done, dump it back in your pot. Next take the pumpkin and repeat the same process with one more cup of stock.
5. When everything is back in the pot (and the heat turned on low), add the last 1/2 cup of stock and the 1/2 cup of cream. Then add your seasonings. (I didn't add salt because the stock itself was very salty.)
6. Taste test and see if you need to add any more seasonings. Nick and I thought it needed a bit more cinnamon, so we did another sprinkling, but not everyone likes their squash soup with that much.
We cut up some sourdough bread and dipped it and it tasted so good. I'm not a big fan of broth soups, and I made chicken soup last week, so I'm really happy to have something else in the house. The fall and winter are obvious great times for soup eating, and what better soup to celebrate Halloween with than with the seasonal vegetables of pumpkin and squash? I guess my stress was good for something!
Hope you enjoy it!
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