butternut squash

[milly2306]

has anyone got a good tried and tested recipe for butternut squash curry? or any other good squash recipes except soup?
xxxmillyxxx

[Alison]

My fave way to eat butternut squashes is this one:

STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
INGREDIENTS:
1 large butternut squash (about 1.5kg) or 2 small ones
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Around 50g butter
A little olive oil
Handful of chestnuts, very coarsely chopped
100 to 200g cheese grated or crumbled into lumps
2 tsp chopped thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / Gas Mark 5.
2. Clean the outside of the squash, then cut it in half lengthways, and scoop out the seeds and soft fibres.
3. Place in an ovenproof dish, put some garlic and a nut of butter in each cavity, brush with oil, season well and bake for an hour, until the flesh feels very tender to the tip of a knife.
4. Scoop the flesh and buttery, garlicky juices into a bowl, leaving a 1cm thick layer of flesh attached to the skin, so it holds its shape. Roughly mash the flesh. Keep back a few bits of chestnuts and cheese, and fold the rest into the mash, along with the thyme, bacon and more seasoning. Spoon back into the squash halves, scatter on the reserved cheese and nuts. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling.

A couple of rashes of smoked bacon chopped and fried until crispy can be added for meat eaters.

[Alison]

This is nice too:

CHICKPEA AND SQUASH CURRY
SERVES 6
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground turmeric
6 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground
2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
3 medium carrots, small to medium diced
400g chopped tomatoes
1 medium squash, butternut or similar, peeled and diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 ¼ pints vegetable stock
400g tin chickpeas
1 head broccoli, broken into small florets
250g Greek yoghurt
Good handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
METHOD:
1. Pour oil into a heavy based pan or casserole and set on a low to moderate heat. Add onions and garlic and cook slowly until honey brown.
2. Stir in mustard seeds, ground coriander, turmeric, cardamom seeds and chillies. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, squash and sweet potato then add stock.
4. Turn up heat and bring to boil. Skim orange froth from surface and discard then turn down heat to simmer contents.
5. Drain chickpeas and add to curry. Stir from time to time, keeping an eye on the vegetables. They should be tender but not mushy (aprox 20 mins). Season with salt.
6. At this point you can stop cooking and chill overnight which will deepen and mellow the flavours. You can also freeze, defrosting thoroughly before heating and continuing the recipe.
7. To serve, steam (or boil) broccoli till al dente, drain and stir into curry over a moderate heat. Stir in the yoghurt making sure that it does not boil (the yoghurt will curdle if it does giving a grainy appearance)
8. Add the coriander and serve with Indian accompaniments.

[Rhona]

...or just find your fave curry recipe and substitute the squash! Works for me!

In Portugal, squash is preserved as a sweet thing to go on cakes/in tarts etc. It's wonderful and definately worth a try.

Also, I make a really nice ravioli with a squash, ricotta and parmesan filling. Try mixing in some crushed amaretti biscuits too. You must serve it with lemon and sage butter to really show it off!

[mandi]

jamie oliver has a good butternut squash cup cake-yep! i said cup cake recipe!
sounds horrible tastes really good!
made them for my little girl....if your intersted i'll post the recipe.
they're dead easy to make if you have a food processor...

[grannysmith]

Hi milly

Well, it's not a curry but it's my favourite and it's really simple (another reason it's my favourite )

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into rice-cake shaped pieces (or flat chunks as much as possible)

3 - 4 medium-hot red chilis

Good quality olive oil (virgin works, but if you can get some of the really good stuff from Italy, even better)

3 - 4 tablespoons thyme (dried will work for this, fresh if you have it)

Method: In small casserole dish, lay squash chunks flat. Chop chilis finely and sprinkle over layer of squash chunks. Spoon over olive oil and sprinkle on thyme. Then, do another layer of squash chunks, chilis, olive oil and thyme. Cover and bake about 45 minutes or until cooked. Serve straight from oven.

NB: If preferred, you can substitute bird's eye hot chilis, but in that case, use fairly sparingly and beware---they pack a punch!