Butternut squash inspiration!

[foodiemama26]

I usually roast it as a side dish, but I was wondering if anyone had any other inspiration/tried and tested recipes.

I love to roast chunks of butternut squash with plenty of sage and chilli flakes alongside a whole ricotta cheese - mash it all together and it can be used as a general side dish or I also use it as the filling for an incredible veggy lasagna replacing the mince

It's lovely in a curry or Dahl or used like carrot in a cake.

I have teenage boys who eat at odd times and have opposite tastes, so I batch cook ready meals for them and freeze.

DS1's favourite is chicken and butternut lasagne:

Cut the butternut into chunks, oil and salt, roast

Add a dash of cream and a knob of butter, then puree

Make a basic bechamel sauce and mix in a big dollop of masarpone and salt/pepper to taste

Lightly fry small chicken chunks, then add to the white sauce

Layer up chicken in sauce/fresh lasagne sheets/butternut puree, adding small blobs of green pesto here and there

Top with grated parmesan, cheddar and breadcrumbs, then scatter a few pine nuts on top and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 25 minutes if fresh, 50 minutes if frozen (or until piping hot in the middle)

A but less fancy than other suggestions but you can steam and stick blend cubed BNS and/or sweet potato and stir it in to cheese sauce to make macaroni cheese - makes it feel a bit healthier and a good way to sneak veg in to the kid's dinner.

Cut a large BNS into cubes of about 2cm side, and roast. I usually also roast some aubergine and/or peppers in similar volume at the same time. Aim to roast until the edges of each piece are blackenned and crispy.

while they are roasting, slice up some red onions and saute them with garlic and seasoning to taste - I use a bit of cayenne, chilli, cumin, cinamon and smoked paprika, but feel free to vary that. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a (drained) tin of black beans, and possibly some leftover wine that you have about the place (optional) and simmer for a bit. When the veg are roasted, I usually reserve a small amount of the BNS for the pate recipe below, but the rest is all chucked into the pan with the onion/tomato/bean mix. Serve with rice and a dollop of creme fraiche.

BNS pate - take some roasted BNS, and mush up with a dollop of light philadelphia and herbs of your choice. Thyme works well, or oregano - I think it's nicer if you use fresh leaf herbs rather than dried but dry is OK. Also works with spices like paprika.

Lots of recipes on the BBC Good Food site .

This butternut squash soup is good. I also add about 140g of red lentils to make it a bit more filling.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/butternut-squash-sage-soup.

This soup is also good.

theveganlarder.com/soothing-butternut-squash-and-white-bean-soup/. Better with cannellini beand though.

This stew is lovely particularly when it's really cold. I omit the saffron. You can freeze it but the squash goes a bit soggy.
www.rivercottage.net/recipes/north-african-squash-and-chickpea-stew

This salad is pretty tasty.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/warm-roasted-squash-and-puy-lentil-salad

This is really nice. I usually change it slightly depending on what I have in (eg, spinach or rocket instead of the chard or cheddar instead of gruyere), but it still always tastes great.

www.myrecipes.com/recipe/vegetable-lasagna-butternut-bechamel

I make up the butternut 'bechamel' sauce/puree and freeze it and also use it to make a lovely butternut mac 'n' cheese topped with breadcrumbs and cheese.

The first photo is from the recipe I've linked to and the other 2 are photos of my butternut mac 'n' cheese.

Burgers! We make Jamie Oliver's bhaji burgers, which use butternut squash and paneer. It's in Veg, but I think it's on his website as well. Would recommend hoping the amount of curry paste.

They make great gnocchi instead of potato

I had it filled with bean chilli recently, served with salsa, guacamole and sour cream, and topped with jalapeños.

Chunky chop BS and roast for a while.
Meanwhile peel and cut red onions into segments held together by root (too small and they'll just burn). Chop garlic. Chop Chorizo ring. Blanch green beans.
When BS is starting to soften add other ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
Cook until BS soft and onions jammy/charred. Add fresh red chili if you fancy.
Amounts are flexible.
Sprinkle feta and chopped parsley to serve. Definitely filling.

Last night I made butternut squash macaroni cheese.
I don't have a recipe I made it up but I have seen recipes for it which is where I got the idea from.
Anyway, basically roast squash until soft, peel and scoop out seeds,then mash and add milk/butter/cheese u till you have the taste you want, and it's the consistency of a cheese sauce.
Pour over cooked macaroni in an ovenproof dish, top with more cheese and bake in the oven until browned and bubbly.

In red lentil curry with coconut milk
Roasted then made into soup

I make a soup with 1 squash, 1 pear, 2 tbsp ground hazelnut or cashew, and a handful of pine nuts. Delish!!!

I don’t normally buy them, but had several in veg box deliveries.
Made several lots of Thai style soups, with added swede, carrot or parsnip if I had any that needed using. All of those go very well.

Plenty of gently fried onion and garlic first, B squash in chunks or spoonfuls (I microwaved it first), other veg in rough chunks, plus red chilli and ginger (I usually use the little jars of purée from Asda) chicken stock (cube or home made, but not too much, needs to be quite thick at this stage) blitz in the pan when all tender, add coconut milk - delish.