what should I do with butternut squash?

[Aimee]

I baked and mashed it. It's one of the sweetest squashes I've ever tasted. I could make soup, but I'm looking for more inspiration.

[NYchowcook]

My very favorite thing to do w/ butternut squash is make quesadillas -- w/ monterey jack cheese & chopped red pepper (or roasted) w/ a sour cream chipotle lime dipping sauce. Always a hit at my parties. But I roast w/ onions and garlic per Epicurious recipe
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

Alternately I used to make a pureed squash dish for Thanksgiving w/ maple syrup and butter. Even avowed non-squash lovers ate it up.

[cayjohan]

Yes! Squash facilitates the apotheosis of the quesadilla, IMHO. Some roasted squash in the fridge makes it easy to whip up a quick quesadilla that's more than just cheese. (It was one way to get more veggies into my kids when small.)

Since I will also make a sandwich out of darn near anything, I have also spread roasted butternut on bread along with some smoked gouda to make a grilled sandwich. Maybe odd, but delicious.

[Marianna215]

An alternate to the typical soup, risotto, lasagna, is to cube and roast the squash and then mix it into a salad of arugula, pecorino, and a vinaigrette. I tried it at a restaurant a few weeks ago and have been replicating it since!

[amyzan]

Use the butternut mash thinned with a bit of cream as a sauce for a whole wheat pasta shape like rigatoni, and add sweet italian sausage and kale. Finish with just a bit of sherry or balsamic vinegar, whichever you like better.

[Kelli2006]

I split them in 2, remove the seeds and roast the halves in a open pan at 350 for 2 hours, until they are almost falling apart and very sweet.

My mom would place a ball of sausage and brown sugar in the seed cavity, but I prefer a complete vegetarian presentation. It is 1 of my favorite fall meals with a green salad.

The seeds can also be roasted like pumpkin seeds.

[Veggo]

In my ignorance, are we already way past the traditional? I slice them in half, add a generous pat of butter and a sprinkle of light brown sugar, and include them for the final 45 minutes of baking of whatever meat dish is in the oven. A teaspoon helps scallop out the hemisphere of squash when it is plated. I assumed this yankee preparation was universal; please forgive me if it is and we are only looking for butternut squash haute cuisine.

[sistinas]

You could use it in a gratin... I made this butternut squash and creamed spinach gratin for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[j2brady]

So so so many things!

Besides soup.....

stuff ravioli (either homemade dough or use wonton wrappers)

layer in lasagna

stir into rice pudding for a sweet dish with nutmeg

use in muffins/quick bread like you would pumpkin or banana

Cook down for a squash butter

Also, a friend of mine makes absolutely killer killer squash brownies using the Joy of Cooking brownie recipe...omit the chocolate and add 2 cups squash puree.

[Aimee]

Thanks for all the replies! What is squash butter? Sounds interesting.

[amyzan]

Squash butter is like pumpkin butter or apple butter, cooked down fruit or vegetable, sweetened and spiced to your taste. It's a good spread for toast or to accompany roasted meats like pork tenderloin, I imagine. You can also use it as an ingredient in oatmeal cookies and other baked items.

[paulj]

For most purposes, except for carving, a hard squash like this can be used just like pumpkin. Or another way to put it, pumpkin is just a type of hard squash.

[rumple]

Cut it in cubes and pan roast with onions, garlic, a touch of cinnamon, some red pepper flakes and tiny grape tomatoes, add a drained and rinsed can of chickpeas. It's delicious with couscous. Or put in a slow cooker with cut up carrots, ginger, cinnamon, onions and chile pepper and simmer for several hours. Then mash and add some chicken stock, it's a great soup.

[Gio]

Since you already baked and mashed it, how about a quick bread? Pie? Custard/flan??

[paulj]

Here's a recent thread trying to get 'non-soup' ideas. I'm not sure it was successful, since there were only 58 replies. I also recall a 'help with bland squash' thread.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/458009

[JoanN]

Cut it into cubes, roast until caramelized, and add to risotto.

[Scrapironchef]

Add cubed persimmons to it when roasting, follow JoanN's instructions.

[JoanN]

Oooooo. Wonderful! Next time. Thanks.

[drgreg]

I recently made a risotto with bacon, butternut squash and smoked gouda - great combo! Half the squash was cubed and the other half grated (which disintegrates into the stock). And did a second risotto with the same ingredients and barley instead of rice.