Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Twice Baked Butternut Squash

It's time for the butternuts again...looks like we've got a bountiful harvest for our little backyard.  Martha Stewart's recipe for Twice Baked butternuts looked like a good one to try.

pictures on aluminum foil are just a bad idea

And good it was,  and pretty darned easy too.  I was most surprised that the girl child even like it!  Give it a whirl if you get a chance...here's the recipe for you.


  • 6 butternut squash (about 9 pounds total)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon nonfat sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 6 fresh chives, cut into 1/8-inch pieces
  • 3 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs, lightly toasted
  1. Heat oven to 450 degrees with the rack in center. Halve squash lengthwise, and remove seeds and fibers. Sprinkle squash halves with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Fill a roasting pan with 1/4 inch water. Place squash in pan. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake until squash is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer squash to a cool surface, and let cool enough to handle. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees.
  2. Use a spoon to scoop baked flesh out of each half into a large bowl, leaving a 1/4-inch border around six of the halves so they will keep their shape. To the bowl, add sour cream, paprika, chives, and remaining teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Mix with a handheld electric mixer or potato masher until smooth and well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Fill six squash halves with mixture (discard remaining six empty halves). Sprinkle tops with toasted breadcrumbs. Bake until golden brown and warm throughout, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve.
    Things I did differently:
    I didn't use 6 butternuts, just one, so just decreased the other ingredients by eye-balling it.
    I nuked the butternut before the second baking to speed things up.  I added just a little butter and used store bought bread crumbs. 

    As a side note, I recently tried to make Jamie Oliver's recipe for homemade ketchup.  This sort of fell under the category of "what was I thinking?". 

     It started out promising with some lovely homegrown tomatoes and a mix of other lovely veggies (everything Jamie uses is lovely so I felt I needed to follow suit).  

    When he made this on TV it came together pretty quickly, but in reality there's a lot of "cooking down" time.  Where is my fast forward button when I need it?

    Smelled really great, but in the end, it never thickened up at all, it was more of a "runny tomato sauce".   I ended up using it to flavor some sloppy joes and it was really nice, but way more work that I am interested in investing for such a small result.  Probably yielded just shy of 2 cups.  Oh well, live and learn!

13 comments:

My Little Space said...

Your baked squash looks great. I like the top crust you added on. It sure will give you a slight crunch.
Have a great day, Julie.
Kristy

♥peachkins♥ said...

that looks gorgeous!

peachkins@ The Peach Kitchen

♥peachkins♥ said...

that looks gorgeous!

peachkins@ The Peach Kitchen

Anonymous said...

Butternut squash is my very favourite kind of squash. I know I would love this. And thanks for the laugh on the homemade ketchup....I've had too many of those "what was I thinking" moments.

grace said...

tasty idea, julie! butternut squash is so very versatile and i've seen it used a lot of ways, but twice-baking it is a new one--bravo!

The Blonde Duck said...

The squash looks marvelous!

4*KowBoys said...

This does look delicious!

The JR said...

Our butternut is just now making. Hopefully we'll have a lot to eat pretty soon.

Next time just roast all of those tomatoes. You know you'll enjoy them that way.

Val said...

Holy Yum!

Velva said...

I really like butternut squash. As I read your post, I realize that I do not prepare squashes, like this one, too often. Why, I have no idea, they are delicious.

Do you have a backyard bounty? I was thinking I could only grow butternut in the autumn. If not, I need to make sure butternut is in my next crop.

Velva

teresa said...

i want to make this right now. butternut squash is SO delicious, and healthy. fantastic recipe!

Pam said...

This looks delicious!

Monica H said...

I'v'e never had tice baked butternut squash but it sounds tasty!