Butternut Squash

(another Mark Bittman recipe from “How to Cook Everything Fast”)

Bittman writes: “If we’re being truthful, this sweater weather recipe should really be called ‘winter squash and tomatoes with pasta,’ as the 2 pounds of squash far outweigh the 1/2 pound of penne it calls for. I think that’s a good thing. Every single piece of pasta gets a generous coating of sauce, and there’s even some left behind after the pasta is long gone. That’s what bread is for.”

Last Saturday Jenn Robbins was serving coffee-cured butternut squash at her pop-up at Morningside Farmers Market alongside spiced smoked brisket from Riverview. Wonder if the butternut were from Riverview as well.

I wasn’t able to get my share since I was headed to the Woodstock Farmers Market that morning so I don’t know what Jenn was doing to “coffee cure” the squash, but in doing a little research, I ran across this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash and Coffee Soup which seemed like an interesting combination. It’s from www.abrowntable.com.

Apparently she created it as an ad for the cold brew coffee she mentions, but of course, there’s no reason not to just use a cold cup of your own brew. I also think I’ll try this with regular yellow onion. No need to go for red onion when it’s just going to be pureed. I don’t see that much difference in flavor. Also – why not just use the whole butternut? And finally, if you have an immersion blender, that’s the thing to use instead of moving that hot mixture to a stand blender.

This hasn’t been the usual blockbuster year for squash – so each butternut is particularly precious. I liked the idea of combing the butternut with citrus in this recipe from Woman’s Day magazine.

I know – two crazy recipes for butternut squash. Well, why not?

This one came from Sunset magazine, the Western equivalent of Southern Living. It’s based on a northern Italian pickling technique called carpione that’s traditionally used to preserve fish but works with any firm-fleshed seasonal vegetable.