There is something magical about the marriage of sweet potatoes and butternut squash. They have similar textures and colors, but the flavors are unique to each. Combine them with white potatoes and you have a dish of exquisite sweet earthy flavors perfect for the winter season.
Grocery stores and farmers’ markets have all manner of winter squash, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Butternut squash is commonly available, but this dish is a great chance to try some other squashes like kabocha, Hubbard, Kuri, buttercup or even sugar pumpkins. Each squash has a somewhat unique flavor although they may be hard to tell apart unless you have them side by side.
This dish can be seasoned according to your culinary bent – with fresh or dried herbs, cheese, bacon or pancetta. However you season, be sure to use plenty of fresh ground black pepper and a hint of red pepper for a delectable main course or side dish.
Simply put, you will first make a seasoned creamy sauce, then cook the potato, sweet potato and squash slices until tender and finally layer them, pour over the sauce, top with cheese and bake.
Butternut, sweet potato, white potato bake
(serves 8 as a side dish, 4 as a main dish)
Roux (sauce) 2 T. butter 1 oz. pancetta or bacon (optional) ¼ c. finely minced onions or shallots 2 garlic cloves, finely minced ¼ c. flour 1 ½ c. milk (skim or 2%) Approximately ¾ c. grated Parmigiano cheese ½ t.salt ½ t. fresh ground black pepper ¼ t. ground red pepper
Vegetables 1 large baking potato 1 medium sweet potato Half of one small squash (save the other half for another dish) ½ c. grated gruyere, asiago or crumbled goat cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and cube the potatoes and squash into ½” cubes. Add to boiling water and boil gently until tender, about 4-5 minutes (may take longer, depending on the density of the squash). You want them easily pierced with a fork, but not falling apart. Drain well.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt butter and add the pancetta or bacon if using, cooking until crisp. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, add flour and cook for about two minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Continue stirring over low heat until the sauce thickens. Add the parmesan, salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
Arrange vegetables in a shallow baking dish and pour sauce over the vegetables. Top with cheese and any desired herbs. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. If desired, you can then put the dish under the broiler for 3 or 4 minutes until it is golden. Let stand ten minutes before serving.
This dish goes well as a side with any smoky meat such as barbecued ribs or smoked sausage. A perfect accompaniment is homemade applesauce, dusted with cinnamon.
I willingly admit to being a cheapskate. It’s a few days after Halloween and I’ve been scouting for a deal on pumpkins. Accidentally, I found a local nursery, with a gazillion for sale before Halloween, giving them away for free today. So, I loaded up the car. I feel so grateful to have a kitchen full of the golden orbs, just waiting to be processed for the freezer and winter meals.
I started by roasting two this afternoon. Half of one as well as the stringy goo that holds the seeds will go into homemade dog food. The seeds will be roasted shortly – my favorite snack this time of year and really good for me. The rinds will be tossed out for the squirrels (and maybe bears). I have effectively used every part of the pumpkin!
You can simply scoop the cooked flesh into freezer bags to use all winter. Turn it into curried pumpkin soup, toss the puree with hot pasta and a good cheese, put it in your green smoothie for a vitamin boost. And, of course, it makes the best homemade pumpkin pie ever. Here are a few recipes to get you started:
Pumpkin or winter squash soup
Pumpkin soup with bacon
small pumpkin, butternut squash, or other winter squash 1 c. chopped onion 2 t. oil 5 c. chicken or vegetable broth 2 T. molasses 1 t. curry powder or 2 T. red curry paste ¾ t. salt 1/8 t. cayenne or more to taste ⅔ c. half and half or coconut milk Sliced red sweet or chili peppers for garnish
Mix onions with oil and spread on the pan around squash. Roast at 425 45 minutes or until tender. Scoop out pulp, measure about three cups, and add with rest of the ingredients to a heavy pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Puree in blender and return to pan. Add half and half or coconut milk and warm until heated.
Serve with a drizzle of Sriracha or coconut milk, sliced red chilis, crumbled crisp bacon if you have meat-eaters in the house, or chopped parsley or cilantro if desired.
Cheesy pumpkin pasta for two
6 ounces pasta noodles, your choice ½ small onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced ½ cup pumpkin puree 2 cups broth dash of red pepper flakes ½ t. salt dash fresh ground pepper 1 T. butter 2 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into cubes
In a stockpot, saute onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add noodles, vegetable broth, pumpkin puree, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to blend together, and put on the stove over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, stir, cover, simmer for 2-4 more minutes, or until pasta is al dente.
Add butter and cream cheese cubes, stir continuously until the cheese is melted and incorporated.
I’ve given up on green beans. For now anyway. We cooked them for our Christmas dinner because we always have fresh green beans for the December holidays. But they were terrible. I realized that fresh green beans, even when blistered with olive oil and garlic are a summer dish. These were tough and tasteless.
Green beans from last summer. The store-bought ones this month are a poor comparison
This unpleasant result brought me through the backdoor to my mantra “eat in season”. I tend to forget it when going back to family traditions. Of course you have green beans for Christmas dinner. But I grew up in Texas, where my family food traditions were seated, and green beans in December were not a novelty – they were still readily available locally. Or, as so many families do, my mother would pull out her home-canned green beans to make the standard casserole. Am I too old to change? Not at all – from now on we will have roasted brussels sprouts!
We gave up on tomatoes
My husband and I gave up on tomatoes about a month ago. We bought the small sweet Campari tomatoes on the vine at the grocery market after we had the last of our garden grown and the market tomatoes dwindled. Last year we thought these were better than the usual grocery store tomatoes, but we just realized that we’re reaching for a ghost of flavor that’s just not there. So, we’ve decided not to eat fresh tomatoes until next year.
Simple sauteed Brussels sprouts
Cool season vegetables are abundant
Trying to find those flavors and only getting a ghost is so unsatisfying, and since there are so many other flavors that are robust and delicious, we’ll stick with those. Brussels sprouts and cabbage are still available locally, and the fresh-picked flavor is unbeatable.
Brussels sprouts an winter squash for roasting
I have a shelf full of winter squash just waiting to be roasted and tossed with hot pasta or pureed into soups with onions, garlic and kale (also readily available). And I have a bucket of sunchokes harvested from my own garden waiting to be roasted.
Roasted Kabocha squash
I will simply save the tomatoes, beans, summer squash and eggplant until I can enjoy it fresh and delectable as it ripens next summer. This decision also makes me feel better about my carbon footprint as I’m trying to eat locally as much as possible rather than vegetables shipped in from far away. No green beans, but delicious wintery beans with rice. And roasted brussels sprouts with kabocha squash.
Caribbean beans to go with steamy rice
Here’s a favorite:
Caribbean rice and beans
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped sweet pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1/4 t. crushed red pepper
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
1 can black beans, drained
Saute onion, celery, pepper and garlic until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 3 minutes. Serve over cooked rice, topped with mozzarella or queso fresco. Delicious with sauteed chorizo, either meat or plant-based.
The nip of frost in the air and the smell of wood smoke outdoors are sublime companions to the scents of cinnamon baked apples and nutmeg-laced butternut squash in the kitchen. This is the perfect time to reacquaint ourselves with the bounty of winter squash. It’s also a great time to raid the farmers’ markets and pumpkin farms to pick up the squash in every hue and flavor. It’s hard not to load the car with pie pumpkins, buttercups, Turk’s turbans, blue Hubbards, Japanese pumpkins and kabochas.
Pumpkins
Pumpkins are the kings of winter squash. Pumpkin pie made from fresh pumpkin is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted, and pumpkin is also very good when baked and mashed like potatoes.
For years, the most popular winter squash was acorn squash, mostly because it was commonly available year-round. This the baseball-sized green ribbed squash with bright orange flesh. But there are so many others available now that there’s no need to limit yourself. Delicata squash, oblong cream to yellow with dark green stripes, and Sweet Dumplin’ are some of the sweetest squash you’ll ever eat. They have rich orange flesh like butternut but are infinitely sweeter.
Now’s the time for harvest
Winter squashes begin ripening in August and continue through October. Although most winter squash can be harvested when young and used like zucchini, the point of growing winter squash is usually to keep them over the winter. Winter squashes are ready for harvest when the rind is hard enough so that you cannot make a dent in it with your fingernail. This means they’ve cured enough to store well. By the time the first frost arrives, the squash should all be ready to harvest.
As soon as Halloween is over, many farm stands have piles of pumpkins they would like to sell at reduced prices. Even the groceries have reduced-price pumpkins. Pie pumpkins, which have thicker flesh and usually are less than twelve inches in diameter, are the easiest to store and cook.
Winter squash store easily
All winter squashes store well so you can stock up now for the winter. To control fungal problems in storage, wash squash well with soap and water. For extra protection, wipe them down with vinegar, making sure to get the stem end. They are best stored on wire racks or someplace with good circulation and cool conditions such as the basement. Squash should ideally be stored at 50 to 55 degrees, and if your basement is warmer than that, be sure to check them periodically for rotting.
Baking squash
All it takes to bake most winter squash is to cut it in half and invert them on a rimmed cookie sheet. You can remove the seeds before baking, especially if you want to toast the seeds, or you can bake with the seeds intact and remove them after baking. They will come out easier this way.
Bake for an hour or so, depending on the size of the squash, at 350 degrees and serve with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, or stuffed with wild rice, apples and cranberries. All winter squashed are cooked the same way, and can be interchanged in almost any recipe.
Bake some for the freezer
The cooked flesh freezes well, and if you measure it into freezer bags in one cup batches, it’s ready to pull out for use whenever the mood hits to make muffins or squash bread.
Spaghetti squash
Spaghetti squash is a little different in that when it is cooked, you can separate the flesh into strands that really do resemble spaghetti. The “spaghetti” is delicious with a little butter and parmesan or even spaghetti sauce. And it doesn’t have the high calories of pasta.
Full of nutrition
Winter squashes and pumpkins are full of vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber. The pulp is a delicious way to put extra fiber into spaghetti sauce, soups and stews. I even found a recipe for spaghetti squash dressed with pumpkin sauce. What could be healthier?
Although one of my favorite winter squashes is the butternut, I’m quickly replacing that favorite with kabocha squash. It has dark orange rich creamy flesh and is a wonderful addition to mac and cheese, not to mention an endless variety of soups and vegetable dishes.
Toast the seeds
And don’t forget about the seeds. Pumpkins and squash seeds are packed with magnesium, potassium and fiber. Rinse the seeds to remove the pulp, dry and toss with olive oil and salt. Toast in an oiled pan at 300 for 10-30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes to avoid burning.
Stuffed Squash (Acorn, delicata, any small squash)
Stuffed acorn squash rings
Slice squash into one-inch rings and remove seeds and membrane
2 oblong or round squashes, cut into 1 inch thick slices, seeds removed 6 T. butter 1 large onion, chopped 1 ½ T. curry powder 2 apples, diced 2/3 c. apple juice ½ c. cranberries
Saute onion in butter, add curry and cook for one minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and sauté until liquid evaporates. Place squash rings in a shallow baking pan, fill with saute mixture and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
Butternut squash or pumpkin gratin (a Thanksgiving tradition in our house)
3 c. torn day-old bread (your choice – whole grain makes it more healthful and a bit denser 2 c. cooked squash (any with rich orange color – butternut, pumpkin, kabocha, buttercup) 2 T. olive oil 1/2 c. chopped onion 1 large clove garlic, minced 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1 c. ricotta cheese 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese 3 T. chopped parsley 3/4 t. salt 1/4 t. pepper fresh bread crumbs or panko
Cover bread with hot water and let stand until softened, 3-5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Mix bread, squash and rest of ingredients in a large bowl. Add onions and garlic. Spread in oiled 2 quart casserole and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake, uncovered 35 minutes until slightly puffed and beginning to brown.
The nip of frost in the air and the smell of wood smoke outdoors are sublime companions to the scents of cinnamon baked apples and nutmeg-laced butternut squash in the kitchen. This is the perfect time to raid the last of the farmers’ markets and pumpkin farms to pick up the end-of-season bargain squash in every hue and flavor. Load the car with pie pumpkins, buttercups, Turk’s turbans, blue hubbards and kubochas.
Storing squash and pumpkins
Winter squash and pumpkins can be stored for months in a cool basement if you wash them with soapy water and dry them well. Store on wire racks in a cold room. A basement that stays in the 50’s is just about the right temperature.
Pumpkins are king
Red Pumpkin
Pumpkins are the kings of winter squash. Pumpkin pie made from fresh pumpkin is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted, and pumpkin is also delicious when baked and mashed like potatoes. Look for small pie pumpkins, cheddar pumpkin, Cinderella pumpkin and pink or green pumpkins.
Easy to bake
Butternut squash ready for baking
Although often daunting because of the size, all it takes to bake most winter squashes is to cut them in half and invert them on a rimmed cookie sheet. You can remove the seeds before baking, especially if you want to toast the seeds, or you can bake with the seeds intact and remove them after baking. They come out more easily this way.
Bake for an hour or so at 350 degrees, depending on the size of the squash. Serve with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup or stuffed with whatever sounds luscious. All winter squashed are cooked the same way, and can be interchanged in almost any recipe.
Freeze it
The cooked flesh freezes well, and if you measure it into freezer bags in one cup batches, it’s ready to pull out for use whenever the mood hits to make muffins or squash bread. Or soup!
Spaghetti squash
Spaghetti squash and pie pumpkins
Spaghetti squash is a little different in that when it is cooked, you can separate the flesh into strands that really do resemble spaghetti. The “spaghetti” is delicious with a little butter and parmesan or even spaghetti sauce. And it doesn’t have the high calories of pasta.
My favorite recipe of the season is squash or pumpkin soup, flavored in any number of ways.
Easy Squash Soup
small butternut squash, pumpkin or other winter squash
1 c. chopped onion
2 t. oil
5 c. chicken or vegetable broth
2 T. molasses
1 t. curry powder or 2 T. red curry paste
¾ t. salt
1/8 t. cayenne or more to taste
⅔ c. half and half or coconut milk
Sliced red sweet or chili peppers for garnish
Mix onions with oil and spread on pan around squash. Roast at 425 45 minutes or until tender. Scoop out pulp, measure about three cups, and add with rest of ingredients to heavy pot. Bring to boil and simmer 5 minutes. Puree in blender and return to pan. Add half and half or coconut milk and warm until heated.
Serve with a drizzle of Sriracha or coconut milk, sliced red chilis, crumbled crisp bacon if you have meat eaters in the house, or chopped parsley or cilantro if desired.
Kate's Garden Kitchen 