Tonight I had my first experience with the butternut squash. Generally I use squash alot -- yellow squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash -- but I had never cooked a butternut squash.
Let me tell you, it takes a little wrestling on the cutting board.
Mine had a long, thick neck and small, round bottom. I will admit the knives I have for my use right now are not the best, but there was a lot of splitting sounds and squash pieces on the floor as I tried to cube and peel this stingy squash.
I roasted it in the oven with some chopped onions at 425 for only about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, I am not used to this new oven I'm working with and the pieces started to burn, even though I was supposed to cook it for 40-45 minutes.
But, I must say, somehow this hard-to-handle squash had found its soft side. It was tasty and the dark brown I ended up getting it to actually kind of added to the flavor, in a caramelized sort of way.
I made Giada's Penne with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese.
It was super tasty. The butternut squash lived up to its name, ending up as creamy as butter and really, really good.
This dish is best served as soon as you finish it. I reheated it a little later and it's already not as good. The creamy, goat cheese "sauce" sticks to the pasta and needs a little help from a bit of liquid to help it from being dry on the reheat.
Overall, I'd give this recipe a 7 out of 10 ... mostly because I didn't have that much fun fighting the squash.
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yuuuuum! i love butternut squash, and with my new-found love of goat cheese, this entry has my mouth watering and stomach rumbling!
ReplyDeleteYou should make it. Just half the recipe...and you'll still be eating it as leftovers. And I didn't have fresh basil, but it was still good with the dried stuff.
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