Dark Days: Crostini with Butternut Squash and Ricotta

Lindsay — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:23:25 +0000

Pulled this one out just in time!! Thanks to the chaos caused by Snowmageddon 2010, my travel plans were up in the air for days. Luckily, the folks at Continental were kind enough to get me home on Thursday. Woo hoo! As much as I love my family, it was awfully nice to sleep in my own bed again. It’s also great to be back in my own kitchen!

Erik and I ate at ABC Kitchen right before Christmas and had an amazing crostini with squash, apple cider vinegar, and ricotta that we just had to try to make at home. Even if this isn’t exactly like ABC’s version, it’s still delicious! It was the perfect light dinner before heading out for New Year’s Eve.

When I experimented with this at my parents’ in Minnesota, I used drained cottage cheese instead of the ricotta. You could use any mild, spreadable cheese. You could also use pumpkin or another squash instead of the butternut.

Crostini with Butternut Squash and Ricotta

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
1 (~2 pound)	Butternut squash	Peeled, seeded, and chopped (see this post for directions)	Caradonna Farms *
2 TBsp	Sunflower oil (or olive oil)	Divided into 1 TBsp and 1 TBsp	Stolor Organics (sold by Cayuga Organics)*
1/2 lb	Shallots	Peeled	Paffenroth Farms *
1 TBsp	Butter (plus some additional for toasting the bread)		Ronnybrook Farm Dairy *
1 TBsp	Sugar
3 TBsp	Apple cider vinegar
6 ounces	Ricotta (you could substitute drained cottage cheese or another mild, spreadable cheese)		Tonjes Farm Dairy
4-8 thick slices	Bread (the number of slices depends on the size of the loaf)		Homemade with flour from Cayuga Organics (recipe to come)
To taste	Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Peel, seed, and chop the butternut squash into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes (see this post for directions).
Put the butternut squash cubes in a rimmed sheet pan and toss them in 1 tablespoon of the sunflower oil and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 375 degrees. Set a timer for 45 minutes and begin on the next steps.
Melt the butter and the remaining 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil over medium heat in a non-non-stick skillet. To repeat, you do not want to use a non-stick skillet. You want bits to stick to the bottom for flavor.
Once the butter has melted, add the peeled shallots and the sugar to the skillet. Saute for about 10 minutes until the shallots are light brown.
Pull the butternut squash out of the oven (they won’t be done yet – leave the clock ticking) and scrape the shallots and oil/butter into the sheet pan. Set the sheet pan aside for a moment (be sure to use a trivet!).
Add the apple cider vinegar to the skillet. Heat it to boiling while scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the tasty bits. (This is called deglazing.) The vinegar should be darker now. Pour it from the skillet into the sheet pan and toss everything together.
Put the sheet pan (which now contains everything) back into the oven and continue to roast for the remainder of the 45 minute time until the squash is really soft. If it’s not done after the initial 45 minutes, keep it in the oven but check on it every 10 minutes until done.
Once the squash is done, transfer everything to a heat-resistant bowl (i.e., not plastic).
Take the ricotta out of the fridge so that it can warm to room temperature.
Lightly butter one side of each piece of bread. Place all of the slices on the sheet pan butter side up (don’t bother to clean the pan). You don’t need to butter the bottom side because the sheet pan is already oily from the squash. Move the oven rack to the top of the oven (be careful!). Toast the bread for 5 minutes on each side in your 375 degree oven.
While the bread is toasting, squish the squash mixture with a fork, pastry blender, or potato masher. Leave a few lumps in for texture. The shallots will break up, but won’t completely disappear.
Once the bread is toasted, spread each piece with a thin layer of ricotta and a thick layer of the squash mixture. Cut each piece into 3 or 4 strips (for easy biting) and dig in.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2011 is exciting and joyful for you all!

Lentil and Butternut Squash Chowder

Erik — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:15:40 +0000

I was shocked by how easy and tasty this meal is.

The hardest part is peeling, seeding, and chopping the butternut squash, which isn’t that hard at all. If you can manage that step, you’ve got this meal. It’s also almost impossible to screw up, which is good since I was doing it on my own (see last week’s pasta that needed to be rescued).

Equipment

Standard prep equipment (cutting board, measuring cups)
A good knife, to peel and chop the butternut squash; don’t try it with a flimsy knife
A soup pot or dutch oven; something thick that will distribute heat evenly and won’t burn the bottom

Ingredients

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
1	Butternut squash (med. – large)	Peeled, seeded, and chopped	Keith’s Farm *
1	Potato	Peeled and chopped	Berried Treasures *
1	Large carrot	Peeled and chopped	S&SO *
1	Medium yellow onion	Chopped	S&SO *
1 cup	Lentils (any color)		Whole Foods bulk section
1.5 TBsp	Tomato paste		Whole Foods
2 tsps	Dried thyme
4 cups	Water
To taste	Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Start with the most difficult part: dissecting the butternut squash. Cut the top and bottom off of the squash. Lay the squash “on its side” and make a 3rd cut at the point where it narrows, chopping it more or less in half. Prop the first half up standing on one of the straight cuts so that it is stable on the cutting board.
Using a knife, slice downwards to remove a patch of the skin. (In most cases, a peeler will not peel deeply enough and you would have to make multiple passes, so a strong, sharp knife works better). If the piece is rounded you may have to make multiple slices at various angles. Your goal is to take off all of the skin, exposing the bright orange flesh, while removing as little of the bright orange flesh as possible.
Now cut the peeled halves in half again, this time lengthwise.
Use a metal spoon to scrape out the seeds, guts, and inner layer of flesh.
Once you have four “clean” pieces (peeled and seeded), chop them in to 1/2 inch or 1 inch cubes. The size of the cubes doesn’t matter as much as the consistency. Whatever size you choose, make all cubes of the squash, potato, and carrot roughly the same size.
Next peel your potato and your carrot (this time use a peeler) and cube them. Dice the onion into 1/4 inch pieces (not as large as the other vegetables). Measure out the water, lentils, thyme, and tomato paste. You can also optionally add some diced celery if you like.
Put all the ingredients into the pot and add some ground pepper. Put the pot on high heat, cover it, and bring the water to a boil. Once it is at a boil, remove the lid and lower the heat until the liquid is just barely simmering / bubbling. Let it cook like this for 90 minutes.
The best part of this recipe is that even though it takes an hour and a half, you do not need to babysit it very much. Check on it every 15 minutes or so and give it a stir. If you accidentally overcook it and it gets too thick (think paste), just add a little water at a time, stirring occasionally, until it is back at the proper consistency. It should look like this:

To make this recipe even easier, prepare all the ingredients the night before and instead of cooking it on the stove, use a crock pot
. Set it to cook it on low for 4 hours before you leave for work and then just let it switch to “warm” until you are home and ready to eat it.

Enjoy!

EatLocal365 » butternut squash

Dark Days: Crostini with Butternut Squash and Ricotta

Lentil and Butternut Squash Chowder