Friggin' butternut squash

[ScienceGeekMum]

I've had enough. I spent 15 minutes peeling, then 15 minutes hacking with a cleaver, to prepare a butternut squash for a recipe that said the prep time was only 30minutes. Guess I put all the other ingredients in raw and unchopped?

What am I doing wrong? (aside from choosing butternut squash in the first place!)

You don't need to peel it!!

Cut it into biggish chunks first then peel it. Much easier!

Sharpen your cleaver! It took me 5 mins to peel and chop mine yesterday.

Carlita can you be hired out?

For roast I don't peel it but I needed it mashed - can you mash with the peel? Recipe said peel, cut, steam then mash.

If you can press your thumb nail into the skin, you don't need to peel them,

I do the nail test before I buy them.

Makes life sooo much easier.

That's a really useful tip, thanks! Will do that next time

Chop in half, roast or steam, then scoop out the seeds and peel once it's soft.

Buy pre-prepared squash.

Life is too short, and my knives are too blunt, to hack it apart at home.

Oooh, prepared squash, didn't know they sold that! Thanks!

I do think the roasting then scooping method sounds good though, will probably do that in future if preparing it myself. I like roast squash anyway so am sure it will taste nicer!

Butternut squash is better than swede!
My knife gets jammed halfway through and I can't get it out.

startail glad it's not just me with issues! I love the bloody stuff but it's such a faff... I think I'll be prepared squash next time as suggested.

buy prepared squash! I don't want to be it!

Pampered Chef do a serrated peeler for food like squash .. works really well. They also have a double handed cutter which helps

[[http://www.pamperedchef.co.uk/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=16558&catId=90&parentCatId=90&outletSubCat=

www.pamperedchef.co.uk/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=27278&catId=90&parentCatId=90&outletSubCat=

I used to use a potato peeler to peel it - easy peasy, worked really well- but then became intolerant/allergic/whatever - it started giving me cramps and nausea, so no prep issues for me any more....

I never peel any squash. I cut it in half long ways, scoop out the seeds, add a blob of butter in both halves, stick in roasting pan with lid and bake. Then you can scoop out the squash and mash it up.

Roasting, in my opinion, gives squash the best flavour results. Much richer.

Someone told me you can just put the whole squash in the oven and roast it and then cut it as it will be soft and scoop it out. Haven't tried it myself but wonder if it works. And with swede, too.

Same with roasting pumpkin for recipes, always has a richer flavour.

Iscream's way sounds better - maybe that's what my friend meant because you'd need to get seeds out first!

I use squash all the time - advice is a really sharp cooks knife-and cut into slices then peel -watch your fingers and you will lose some squash flesh (and finger flesh if not paying attention) but dead easy as long as your knife is sharp enough

alternatively if you roast leave the skin on and scoop out flesh after cooking (geekmum then mash makes it even nicer and why arent you running....)

You can use Pampered Chef's serrated peeler which is brilliant

www.pamperedchef.co.uk/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=16558&catId=90&parentCatId=90&outletSubCat=

Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely roast next time.

Yehudi I did my run yesterday, today's a rest day - stop checking up on me!