Real Food of the Week: Butternut Squash

August 13, 2008

I know it is only mid-August, but once summer ends and the back-to-school commercials start airing I can only think of one thing – fall and the comforting foods that come with it.

Over the past year I’ve really gotten more acquainted with butternut squash and I love it. Personally, I think it is a neglected vegetable mostly because it does take a lot of time to prep, depending on what you make.

Winter squashes are excellent for our health and they are much more than just a pie ingredient, although that is good too.

Their orange color probably gives away that they are high in Vitamin A, specifically beta-carotene which is part of a group of very valuable antioxidant. Think disease prevention and anti-aging! In addition, these squashes also provide vitamin C, potassium, fiber and there are some omega-3 fatty acids and folate in there too.

In case you are wondering pumpkin, acorn, butternut, hubbard and turban squashes all fall under the category of winter squash.

I made one of my two favorite butternut squash recipes yesterday. I found this recipe for Butternut Squash with Cinnamon Soup a couple years ago and it has been a fall staple ever since.

The recipe is heavy so let me tell you how I change it a bit for my health-focused tastes. First, I don’t usually have all the spices listed so I just use cinnamon and the cayenne pepper and it turns out great. Second, I use way less cream/whole milk than it calls for. I only use about ¼ c to thin the soup some and get a rich, creamy look and flavor.

Peeling and chopping the butternut squash can be hard work. I guess you could use frozen puree or canned pumpkin, but one of the best parts of cooking it is when you sauté the squash with onion and throw in the cinnamon. The whole house fills with the wonderful smell.

Soon I’ll be making my butternut squash risotto adapted from a recipe I found a while back. This one is easy. Just split your squash in half, scoop the seeds and roast it in the oven or microwave until tender.

Sauté the Arborio rice in olive oil with chopped onion and make as directed with chicken stock. Once at the right consistency, scoop out the squash and drop the pieces into the rice, stirring to break it up. Stir in some freshly grated parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. I could eat this every day!

Fall and all the foods that go with it are just around the corner. Do you have any favorite real foods this time of year?

Photo by kconnors, morguefile.com

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  • Maeskizzle August 13, 2008 at 12:29 pm

    This doesn’t have anything to do with butternut squash, but do you know a reputable website that talks about how the ingredients of food products are listed on the product in order of how much the product contains. I told my boyfriend that here in Chile, yogurt is one part sugar and he didn’t believe me at all. But generally its the first ingredient on the yogurt products here. Disgusting but true.

  • Lori August 13, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Let me see if I can find a web-site with label rules and I’ll get back to you.

    You are right. It is government regulation in the US that ingredients are listed in descending order according to how much the product contains.

    I don’t have proof at the moment other than the fact that I learned this in college. I’ll see if I can find something.

  • Lori August 13, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    maeskizzle – here is a link from the US Food and Drug Administration. It mentions the descending order. You can click on the link after the statement if you want to see the legal regulations.

    http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/2lg-6.html#ingredient

  • Erica August 13, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    You have a pug? I love pugs too! Yayy for wrinkly dogs!! 🙂 🙂

  • Lori August 14, 2008 at 4:46 am

    Ha, ha! I always say, “I love all flat-faced dogs!” 🙂

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