Adventures with Squash: part 2

My mistake of years of indifference towards these seasonal gourds has now been fully realized. At this point in my journey through the wonderful world of gastronomy, the fall/winter squashes have revealed themselves as robust, complex, and versatile in flavor (as well as being a great value in price). Many recipes hold up well with either a butternut, acorn, or cooking pumpkin depending on your mood or availability. This being said, I could make the case for each squash's distinct flavor and why one rather than the other is more fit for a specific recipe or flavor profile. For the sake of this post, I will refer mostly to the butternut as I see it as the utility fielder on the squash roster.

My first success came by creating a flavorful soup that was seriously college-budget and made for great soup leftovers for days (thus saving more money) total about 6-8 servings. My recipes tend to be a bit heavier on the spicy stuff compared to this, more tame model.

Curried butternut squash and lentil soup:

1 goods sized butternut ($0.99/lbs)-peel/clean and cut into inch cubes

1 large yellow onion ($0.99/lbs)-leave in a rustic chop

2 tsp garlic, minced (from pantry)

3/4 cups lentils, dry ($1.50/bag)-about 1/4 of the bag

6 cups water or stock-enough to cover all combined ingredients

2 tsp curry powder (pantry)

1 tsp crushed red peppers (pantry)-actually harvested from my pepper plant back home

2 tsp cumin (pantry)

1 tsp chili powder (pantry)

1 tsp paprika (pantry)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (pantry)

salt and pepper

Soften your onions in a bit of olive oil at the bottom of your stock pot on medium heat 6-8 minutes. Salt and add the garlic near the end. Add squash and spices, stir for a minute then add water/stock (depending on how spicy you like it, can also try a considerable amount of regular black pepper). Bring to a boil then reduce and let simmer about 35 minutes until squash is tender. In a separate pot, cover lentils in water and bring to boil for about 25 minutes. After squash is cooked through, ladle in batches into a blender/food processor and blitz to a fine puree. Tip, do not use coffee mug to transfer hot liquid if ladle is unavailable. Go buy a ladle. Return pureed squash to stock pot and re season to taste. Strain cooked lentils and add to squash soup on low heat.

Notes: Some people like their soup all smooth; I found the added texture as well as nutrition of the lentils enhanced the soup to where it feels more like a meal. Notice no heavy cream, no bacon , in fact no meat at all. A seriously healthy vegetarian dish that could be a good starter to a fall meal. Lentils add fiber and protein, nothing wrong with onions, and talk about beta carotene with the squash. Not counting the spices, the soup coast about $7.

Beer: You would think the best fit would be a fall seasonal pumpkin beer. I would disagree on the basis that squash is already represented and any good pumpkin beer is lost next to the soup. A few fall seasonal or Marzen(Octoberfest) can go well but I found those to be hit or miss due to the bold curry spices. My favorite pairing was Smutty Nose Farmhouse Ale: full flavored but light bodied. It is pretty heavily herbed and spiced which holds up well to the bold curry as well as complimenting the fall flavor of the squash, but other farmhouse/Saisons would work in place as well as select fall releases.

I came away from multiple attempts at squash soup that finally yielded this recipe with the sense that there are numerous individual variations that could be applied to change or enhance the flavor profile of this recipe, which is a testament to the sturdiness of the butternut. What the future holds, who knows. Perhaps beer will be incorporated into the actual recipe. Maybe squash will be considered as an addition to my chili recipe, but probably not. None the less, it has more than redeemed itself and urned a place on my fall menu.

Adventures with Squash

"They're good, try them."


"But dad, I really don't wanna eat any."


"Son, your taste buds will change."





This was a common back and forth between my father and I at the dinner table in my house growing up. Every once and a while, my parents would insert and unusual and unfamiliar food (usually vegetable) onto our plates that was not welcome as far as my sister and I were concerned. This is not to say that I was a particularly picky eater in my early years. We had a relatively diverse menu from night to night during family dinners and I was open to most foods. Carrots, broccoli, peas, green beans, and asparagus were all welcome to join the flank steak and scalloped potatoes on my plate. However, like many children, I reserved the right to make a stand when it came to certain foods I found seriously unappetizing. For me, where I drew the line was squash. Didn't want it, wouldn't eat it, end of story. The smell, the color, the texture, the flavor, were all not for me. Originally developing from bad experiences with yellow squash and zucchini, this soon lead to my labeling of all squash simply as 'the devil' and a decade long boycott by my palate.



Now in college, I find myself craving fall, 'homey' flavors around Halloween and leading to Thanksgiving. With the weather getting a bit colder and football on saturdays and sundays, these fall flavors tend to remind me a little bit of home and watching the games with the family. Naturally I head to the produce counter in search of seasonal vegetables to accompany whatever protein is on sale. Enter problem #1: budget. At least one meat will inevitably be on sale at one point or the other, but what veg is both seasonal and affordable? Winter squash. With squash being one of the few foods I still am averse to, it is difficult to muster the courage to see what I can do with some butternuts and acorns. None the less, it is worth a try.



After a few weekends of trial and error, a few simple tricks produced a number of ways to make these squash meals cheap, healthy, and down right tasty (to my surprise). It just goes to show that sometimes it pays to reconcile old quarrels and in that way, squash and I have come to an understanding. My first attempts have been with spicy curry flavors with the butternut variety and apples/cinnamon with acorns. Soon I will tackle the one squash I have always enjoyed: pumpkin. Hopefully these posts about what I learned will help and/or inspire other recipes.