In my mind, there is no more quintessential fall vegetable than butternut squash. I start craving it as soon as the first leaves show signs of color and the nights turn chilly. I firmly believe that its sweet-savory flavor belongs in everything from warm fall salads to weeknight pastas. Don't you feel the same?
Butternut squashes are those creamy-colored and bottom-heavy specimens that always seem to be wobbling precariously on the display tables. It's hard to pick a bad one, especially during the fall and winter months. Check the area around the stem and on the bottom; the flesh here should be firm and hard, never soft. Some nicks and scratches on the skin are fine, but it should otherwise be unblemished.
Small squashes are sometimes sweeter than larger squashes, but since prepping these rock-hard fall vegetables for cooking can be such a pain, I generally prefer to buy medium-sized squashes. Prepping several small squashes seems like more trouble than they're worth and the giant ones can prove unwieldy to handle.
If you plan to use your squash within a week or two, leave it out on the counter or somewhere at room temperature. Squashes will also keep for several months in a cool, dim, and relatively dry environment, like the basement steps or an entryway closet.
Ready for some butternut cooking action? Here are some recipes you'll love:
• How to Cut a Butternut Squash
• Warm Butternut Squash and Arugula Salad
• Fettucini with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Brown Butter
• Butternut Squash, Apple, and Sage Soup
• Couscous Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries
• Butternut Squash and Parmesan Dip
What butternut squash recipe are you looking forward to making?
Related: 15 Fabulous Ways to Eat Fall Vegetables
(Image: Emma Christensen)
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Pasta with Kale Pesto & Roasted Butternut Squash, Melissa Clark NYT. Worth the work on this one. It's a keeper.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/dining/251arex.html
I LOVE butternut squash and cook with it a lot in the fall and winter, but I confess I always buy the pre-cut-up kind... Sometimes some of the stands at our farmers market offer that, which is great when they do, but if not I buy the bagged ones from supermarket. I have a little bit of a knife phobia anyway (leftover from childhood accident), and butternut squashes are particularly daunting! Maybe this should be the year I get over the phobia!
I LOVE this vegan butternut squash mac and cheese. I'm not even vegan... but this is absolutely delicious and both of my kids even love it: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/03/10/butternut-squash-mac-n-cheeze-two-ways/
Got one going in the CrockPot right now for soup. Yesterday was my easiest prep ever (I'm getting better). Secret: a very, very sharp knife. I think I'd been trying to hack these rocks apart with a dull blade before.
Try as I might, I can't seem to love butternut squash like other people do. I made a giant batch of butternut squash soup (roasted squash, homemade chicken stock, salt, pepper, onion, and a little brown sugar, all pureed) that other people raved about, but while it tasted decent, it's just not my thing. I gave away most of it.
Making a pot of pinto beans for white chicken chili today instead. :D
If you are using it for soup or anything soft, you don't have to carve it. Just stab it once or twice (to vent) and toss the whole squash in the oven. Something like 350-375 for about an hour. Once it cools a bit, it will be just about cooked through. Pull it out carefully -- the skin is now pliable, like soft leather, and ruptures easily. Slit it in half (anything sharper than a butter knife now works), spoon out the seeds and you now have something the consistency of a baked sweet potato. Just scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
I toss about 10 pounds of that in a pot with some sauteed onions, carrots and sweet potato, add some water, bouillon, spices (lovage or celery seed; not needed if you actually have celery in your hose; cinnamon and nutmeg if you want it sweet), puree it with an immersion blender and voila -- a week's worth of soup for an entire family for about half an hour of labor.
Itmaybejj, I love that suggestion! I'm the one who posted earlier about my phobia of cutting up butternut squashes, so I am totally going to try your approach. (Don't know why I didn't think of this, since it reminds me of how when I want sweet potato puree for baking or whatever, I generally just bake them whole and scoop out, rather than peeling, cutting up, and boiling.)
Love butternut squash. I've already started cooking with it. I'm a fan of it on arugula as salad though I use this recipe and not the one above: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-butternut-squash-salad-with-warm-cider-vinaigrette-recipe/index.html
Such a wonderful vegetable !!! Soup is always nice, I like it with a bit of tart apple to give it a "zing". Pureed butternut is also very good (I served it this way with foie gras for New Year's eve dinner :-). And of course cakes & cookies that usually call for pumpkin. It's all good anyway, and sadly widely unknown here...
I LOVE Smitten Kitchen's Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese! It is a must eat this time of year!
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/10/spicy-squash-salad-with-lentils-and-goat-cheese/
Thanks for your suggestion! I'm always worried that I'd snap my knives in half when I cut up my squash. This is much easier.
I've learned -- from a registered dietician I work with! -- that you can stab a butternut squash (or other big, intimidating winter squash) a few times and microwave it until it's soft enough to chop up more easily and safely, then continue with your recipe. We CAN have butternut squash AND all our fingers, too!
Bought some butternuts at the farmers market this weekend to make a Butternut Sage Lasagne. http://therunawayspoon.com/blog/2010/10/butternut-and-sage-lasagna/
Butternut squash roasted with butter, salt, and nutmeg
I love butternut squash but I'm just not into the sweet presentation, which so many recipes seem to emphasize. Instead of roasting it, I steam it, which doesn't allow the caramelization. Then I just squish it with the back of a fork for a mashed-potato-like texture, add butter/salt/pepper, and devour it. @vintagejenta, if the only way you've had it is roasted, give this a shot -- I'm not a fan of the soup either, but I love the more robust texture and the heartier, less sweet flavor from steaming.
Also, everyone -- save the seeds! You can toast them just like pumpkin seeds, but they taste even better.