What’s Cooking Wednesday: Baked Butternut Squash
Butternut squash receives much less fanfare than it’s botanical cousin, the preeminent and ever-popular pumpkin. And while pumpkin will like remain king of fall flavors for the foreseeable future, one taste of this baked squash recipe just might cause you to rethink your palate priorities.
My freshman year of college, I took my roommate to my parent’s house for a home-cooked meal and baked butternut squash was on the menu. In my roommate’s words it ‘made her believe in the possibilities of squash,’ a vegetable she had never previously liked.
This recipe for baked squash came from my grandmother and is a perennial fall favorite for my family. The combination of squash, apples, sugar and spices make for a delicious side dish almost good enough to be called dessert and one that pairs particularly well with pork.
One warning: this is one dish that doesn’t taste as good as leftovers, so only make what you plan to have eaten….not that eating all of it should be a problem!
Baked Butternut Squash
Ingredients:
- 1 medium butternut squash (about 2 lbs)
- 1 -2 medium apples
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 Tbsp. flour
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- With a knife, cut the neck off of the butternut squash. Cut off the top and peel. Cut into slices about 1″ thick. Peel the bottom and scoop out the seeds. Cut into 1″ slices/pieces.
- Arrange all your slices into a glass baking dish.
- Core, peel & slice your apple into rings. Arrange on top of the squash pieces.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter. Once melted, stir in brown sugar, cinnamon & flour.
- Immediately pour the sauce over the apples & squash.
- Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until squash is fork tender.
