Butternut Butter, But No Butter - Simple Saturday

Butternut Squash Butter does not contain any butter, or even dairy. In fact, it's pure roasted Butternut, a dash of cinnamon, a squeeze of orange, and a drizzle of real Maple Syrup. Doesn't that already sound so darn good?It's also very addictive and you'll find yourself spreading it on a biscuit, a crostini or stirring it into a bowl of rice and then sneaking a spoonful of it just for the joy of eating it plain (yeah, I did.) There are jams, jellies, conserves and preserves and there are also butters. Fruit butters are usually made with apples, pears, peaches and sometimes pumpkins.

The butters are less sweet than jams or jellies. Butters are made by heating up the fruit (or vegetable), pushing it through a sieve or using a blender to puree the pulp, then cooking it with a bit of sweet and sometimes citrus on a fairly high heat and quickly until it is thick and spreadable. There should be no left-over liquid, and stirring is important so it doesn't burn. It takes very little time, and it keeps in the refrigerator for a couple weeks at least. I think it's called a "butter" because of the smooth, buttery feel in your mouth. If you've ever had Apple Butter you know about the full flavor of pure apple that it gives to just a simple slice of toast, or how it brings an extra zing to a peanut butter sandwich or a bran muffin. This Butternut Butter is like that, but with the warm, cozy, earthy taste of roasted Butternut Squash.
Besides a biscuit or scone topper, this wintery colored spread is also an easy Bruschetta appetizer. Swirl it on top of crostini, add a dollop of goat cheese, sprinkle on crispy bacon and toast on Medium. I ate a plate of these before my friends arrived and I had to make another plate (shhh, don't tell them.)

RECIPE: Butternut Squash Butter

1/2 Butternut Squash (Roasted, seeds removed and pulp scooped out)
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
Juice of 1/2 Orange
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
pinch of salt

1) In a saucepan, heat and stir the pulp from the roasted Butternut Squash with all the other ingredients, just until combined and very warm.

2) Carefully, pour all into a blender and puree until smooth, then return to saucepan.

3) Heat and stir the puree on Med. for about 10-15 minutes. Most of the liquid should be gone and the mixture will mound into a smooth spreadable consistency.

4) Taste a cooled portion and adjust seasoning to your desire.

5) Allow to cool, then store in a clean container in the refrigerator. It will last for a couple weeks.

I've been trying this Butternut Squash Butter in so many different things: Stirred into Quinoa, added to the center of cornbread muffins, and mixed into a chicken salad.

If you think of other ways or try them, please add it to the comments here or on the ShowFood Chef Facebook page (HERE.) Thanks for stopping by~

Butternut Squash Casserole w/ Stewed Apples & Toasted Pecans

If a pumpkin and a sweet potato had a baby - it would be Butternut Squash. And, it's perfect for a casserole. This mellow-yellow, tawny elongated vegetable is packed with its own natural sweetness, NO fat and tons of vitamins and minerals (including Calcium, Folate and Vitamin C.)

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CASSEROLE
w/STEWED APPLES & TOASTED PECANS

It beats out the pumpkin (in my opinion) because it has none of the stringy filling. Roasting a butternut is so easy, and you can cook it and hold it while you decide if you want to serve it in chunks for a risotto, maybe in a frittata, or as a casserole topped with stewed apples, raisins and toasted pecans. Be back in a moment, I just made myself hungry.


{Butternut Squash break....}

As I was saying... This casserole is great as a side dish (wonderful for holidays), but can also be eaten for breakfast. Why not, it certainly has a lot more going for it than a muffin, right?


This particular recipe came about when my family in California joined my sister-in-law from NYC and my In-laws from Chicago to celebrate my Father-in-law's 70th birthday last month. The 11 of us rented a home outside of Las Vegas for 6 days just after the holidays. Can you imagine ELEVEN family members of all ages and (to put it mildly) every variety of personality, staying together for SIX days in one house? Guess what? We had a blast! We had billard matches, a trip into the casino and buffets night, a show night to see LOVE Cirque du Soleil, DVD night, Grill night, Apples to Apples game day, a birthday evening, and what felt like hundreds of meals together. My mother-in-law and I decided we should write a book about how to share a kitchen and cook together because the two of us practically lived in the kitchen. She is an experienced and wonderful cook and together we planned out theme nights and tag-teamed the breakfast mornings so neither of us had to do every early morning meal.

This recipe came from having roasted butternut squash leftover from the soup I made one night and stewed apples leftover from the morning meal she made. We combined them, threw on some toasted pecans and had a healthy, brand new (to our hungry crowd) side dish to go with the Birthday-night Beef Tenderloin meal. Now, it remains in our own Family Collection and voila, a tradition is created.



Recipe: Butternut Squash w/ Stewed Apples & Toasted Pecans

1 Butternut Squash
Drizzle of Olive Oil
salt/pepper
1 Tbls Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Heavy Cream (or Coconut Milk)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
1/2 cup pecans - toasted and chopped
Stewed Apples (with raisins)- see Simple Saturday recipe HERE-


1) Cut the butternut squash into fourths, drizzle all sides with olive oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet in a preheated 350F oven for approx. 45 minutes (til fork tender).

2) Cool on tray, then spoon out seeds and fiber (you may want to keep the seeds for roasting, etc.) and discard.

3) Spoon out the roasted and sweet squash into a large bowl,
add the brown sugar, cream, nutmeg and salt/pepper to taste. Puree with Immersion blender or whip until creamy.


4) Butter or oil an 8x8 inch baking dish and pour the squash puree into the dish.
5) Place Stewed Apples (with raisins) over the top, then sprinkle toasted chopped pecans and cook in a preheated 350F oven for approx. 30-40 mins.

Have you ever tag-team cooked with a family member? How'd that go?

Butternut Squash, Leek & Potato FRITTATA (or should I say, REFRIGETATTA) Let's Lunch Bunch

One of my Grandfather's favorite dinners was breakfast. I know that sounds odd, but as a medaled war hero, he had probably been through times when what you ate was what was there, ya know what I mean? So, on occasional evenings he would ask my Grandmother to make him (in a southern accent) "Runny eggs n' sum bacon with y'er biscuits and cream coffee". Cream coffee meant- with evaporated milk- as he usually drank it straight in the morning, but probably picked up the term "cream coffee" from Europe along the way. Cream was his way of making strong coffee a "night-time" drink. This casual attitude of "eat what ya want, when ya feel like it" carried over thankfully to the grandchildren as we often had a Tomato Sandwich for breakfast, or a plate of Seasoned Hashbrowns for lunch. And very often, what we ate was whatever needed to be used up from the refrigerator. That's also our theme for the Let's Lunch Bunch, and how I came to have a Frittata for my mid-day meal.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, LEEK & POTATO FRITTATA

A Frittata is an Italian Omelet-like dish that usually consists of eggs, or a mixture of egg whites and whole eggs and then veggies, spices, sometimes meats and even pasta. It's also the easiest way to use up those left-over ingredients that you saved in case you needed them and now feel bad if they're wasted. Maybe it should be called a "Refrigetatta"?

Here's mine, but you can substitute...well...what do you have?

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, LEEKS & POTATO "REFRIGETATTA"

A few pieces of Butternut Squash and Leeks (I roasted these first to bring up the hearty flavors and moisture)
4 egg whites and 2 eggs (beaten in a bowl)
Left over Potatoes (they were already cooked, but you could roast a few slices along with the veggies, too)
1/3 cup of cubed Gruyere cheese (or goat cheese would be good also)
2 Tbls. olive oil
dash of salt, pepper, fresh parsley, fresh thyme, sprinkle of red pepper flakes

Heat an oven proof skillet, with the olive oil, on Med.
Place the potato slices in a single layer for a bottom to the Frittata.
Gently pour in the eggs, season w/ salt and pepper and sprinkle with the cheese.
Resist the urge to stir or mix, then top with your veggies (leeks and onions should be in slices or small bitesize pieces).Season with your spices, and optionally sprinkle a little topping of more cheese.
The bottom should be set by now and you're ready for the oven to finish the job.
Carefully, put your skillet into the preheated 375F oven for about 15 min. (You may want to finish with the skillet under the broiler setting just for a couple minutes to give the top a nice cut.)For a rustic presentation, bring the skillet right to the table for slicing. Or serve slices with a small salad. Almost every month a group of us hungry bloggers set out to share what we call a "virtual lunch". I absolutely love my Let's Lunch pals and I know you'll find some really great ideas in their posts. Check out:
A Tiger In The Kitchen (one of the original "Let's Lunch"ers)
Cowgirl Chef (another original)
Cosmic Cowgirl
Bon Vivant
(check back for more!)

If you'd like to join in, we'd LOVE to have you post. Just look on twitter using this search:
#LetsLunch and connect it to your post. Or leave a comment here and I'll catch you up and in.
Thanks for reading, I always appreciate it!

Riso Delizioso! Butternut Squash Risotto

Have you ever gone to the store for one thing and returned home with a dozen things, except the thing you went to get? I do that at the Farmer's Market...often. That's how I came to own more Butternut Squash than anyone needed to have for one week. What's a gal to do, but use it as an excuse to heat up some butter and wine and make Risotto? It's what the Italians would do, so who am I to question fate.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT RISOTTO

I find there are a few keys to making authentic Risotto: Use the correct rice (round or semi round, like Arborio), heat the rice and coat with oil/butter well in the pan before adding other liquid, after adding the wine make sure to cook it down to au sec (almost dry) before gradually adding the stock.

In some Squash Risotto recipes, the squash is added to the rice as it cooks, but I like to roast the Butternut in the oven until it's nice and caramelized.
Then, cut into cubes and add as one of the last ingredients. That way, the squash still has a nice clear bite to it, but its texture is still compatible with the creamy rice.

RECIPE: ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO (serves 4-6)

1 Butternut Squash
Olive Oil
6 Tbls. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbls. minced fresh Sage
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
3/4 cup Alborio rice
4 cups Veggie stock (may use Chicken Stock, also)
1/3 cup white wine

Cut the Butternut Squash crosswise small top from bottom bulb. Cut each half in half from top to bottom. Drizzle w/Olive oil and salt. Roast in oven on 350F, cut-side down on baking pan, for 20-30 minutes til fork tender. Turn once, halfway through. Cool and scoop out seeds. Peel and cut into bite-size cubes. Hold.

In a large straight-sided pan, heat 3Tbls. Butter and 1 Tbls. Olive oil on Low/Med. until butter melts. Add chopped onion, 1 Tbls of the Sage, and minced garlic. Stir often until onion is cooked through (about 8 minutes). Pour in rice and stir to coat. Continue to cook and stir until rice is opaque (about 10 minutes). Turn heat to Med., carefully pour in the white wine and stir - cooking til almost all the wine is absorbed (about 5-8 minutes). Pour in 1 cup of the stock and stir gently and often while the rice absorbs the liquid. Add the next cup, only after most of the liquid is absorbed. Repeat until all the stock is used and the Risotto is creamy, but the rice still has a bite (al dente) to it. Stir in the Roasted Butternut, the remaining butter and sage; Heat through and serve (Optionally; add some grated Parmigiano Regiano to the last stir.)


Restaurant secret: They make the Risotto to the point of half-way through the "adding the stock" part. The rice is definitely only half-cooked. They spread it out in a large baking sheet to cool, cover and refrigerate. It's cut into serving sizes and brought to room temperature and the cooking, adding stock and cheese is done per order.

Quote from my older son: "Oh Mama, (garbled eating), yeah...is there more?