I love butternut squash, but don’t eat it nearly as often as I would like, mostly because I hate the act of prepping it. It’s not difficult, but it’s just enough of a pain that I generally pass it over in favor of other solid sources of Vitamins A, B and C.
But not that long ago, butternut squash started appearing in stores in containers of beautiful peeled and cubed portions. Suddenly, the prep issue was gone, and while I ordinarily would forego that kind of processing, with this vegetable, on occasion, I take advantage and splurge on the pre-cut variety.
It was just such a container that inspired me to this dish, which shares a name with one of my favorite flavors of ice cream. Nonetheless, it’s more savory than sweet. It can be served as a light main course, especially with a salad and bread on the side, or as a side dish to another entrée.
Maple-Pecan Roasted Butternut Squash with Goat Cheese
(Serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main course)
3 c. cubed butternut squash
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped sage
1/2 c. pecan halves
3 oz. goat cheese
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss the squash in a roasting pan with the olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper.
- Roast the squash for 25 minutes, then stir. Roast an additional 15 minutes, or until the squash is soft and starting to caramelize.
- Meanwhile, toast the pecan halves in a dry skillet. Keep shaking the skillet or stirring the pecans to keep them from burning, which they can do very quickly. This should take about five minutes.
- When the squash is done, toss it with the sage and the pecan halves. Crumble the goat cheese over the tossed maple-pecan squash and serve immediately.
This is my post for this week’s edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Marija from Palachinka. Please stop by at the end of the weekend to read the full round-up!
on Feb 2nd, 2009 at 4:36 pm
This looks like a great recipe! Butternut squash is one of my favorite vegetables and I think I eat it at least every other week. Thanks for a new idea.
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Joanne, you’re welcome — enjoy the recipe and let me know how it turns out!
on Feb 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Yum, I’m always looking for good squash recipes for our seed newsletter. One of our seed growers has a “rent a goat” program for her customers. She would love this recipe. Do you mind if I post it in our newsletter?
on Feb 6th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Sustainable Seed, please email me directly at genie (at) theinadvertentgardener (dot) com about that. Thanks!
on Feb 7th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
ooohhh! Eugenia! We love butternut squash but I only know 2 ways of cooking it – roasting it with LOTS of butter and brown sugar (not very healthy) or cooking it with string beans and coconut milk. This recipe looks good! I think we´ll try this soon!
on Feb 8th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Delia, the string beans/coconut milk version sounds really good, too — yum! Let me know how this turns out, and if you feel like sharing the coconut milk version, let me know — would love to try that recipe!
on Nov 26th, 2009 at 5:02 am
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on Apr 2nd, 2010 at 4:53 am
I really love goat cheese desserts, their are awesome. If I have guests, I just make goat cheese deserts and they love it. Are there any other good uses for goat cheese?
on Apr 4th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Ziegen, I think there are tons of uses for goat cheese. What’s your favorite dessert that you make with it?
on Aug 12th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
This sounds superb – I love butternut squash but had never thought of using it with goats cheese. Thanks for sharing.