Squash

Thanksgiving Side Dishes and Mains

November 18, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Here are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and main courses. Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to get creative with a lot of different dishes!

Main Courses:

Ginger and Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Side Dishes:

Mashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Dil

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon

Roasted Butternut Squash with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere, and Sage

Cranberry Sauce with Pinot Noir

Gingered Cranberry Sauce

Garlic and Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprout

Roasted Beets

Chicken and Butternut Squash Stew with Preserved Lemons

November 14, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This stew is a great combination of Fall and middle eastern flavors. The recipe brings together shredded chicken, butternut squash, chickpeas, Bulgur wheat, preserved lemons and savory spices. This combination makes a great dinner on a cold night. Butternut squash has been a favorite of mine for a while and once again it didn’t disappoint! Another favorite ingredient of mine is preserved lemon which flavored the stew very nicely. The bulgur, chickpeas and chicken made the stew extra hearty and delicious! I topped the stew with a little yogurt and lemons slices for garnish.

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Black Bean and Sweet Dumpling Squash Chili

October 20, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I had never tried making a chili with squash so I was excited to see how this recipe would turn out. But first, let me back up and say that this chili has an interesting back story. Last year, my mom threw some squash seeds in a compost bin. The seeds did not break down as they should have but rather grew to be enormous squash plants over the summer (the vines were 20 ft. long and growing all over the lawn). Letting the vines run wild paid off because they produced gorgeous sweet dumpling squash and I was sent 6 of them in the mail (I’m sure there’s more where that came from). I was so excited to get started since I had never tried sweet dumpling before.

I read up on the squash and it turns out that most recipes just season and roast the squash whole because of their smaller size. They are milder than other squash and taste a bit like sweet corn. I thought preparing it in a chili with beans and corn would work nicely. I started with traditional chili spices like Chipotle in adobo and cumin as well as spices that would compliment the squash like allspice and cinnamon. The chili was so tasty and I was really happy with how it turned out.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk

July 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

It probably seems crazy to most Americans to down a hot bowl of soup right now. This soup makes more sense to me because temperatures on the central coast just haven’t risen much at all. Next time it hits lower temperatures this soup would be perfect to enjoy on a cooler day. Better yet, you could wait until late summer or Fall when the squash actually comes into season. If you are craving roasted butternut squash like me, there’s no time like the present for a good soup.

I chose to make this soup with a few of the great flavors from Thai cooking–coconut milk, red chili paste, and a mixture of fragrant spices. I roasted the butternut squash first in the oven and threw all the ingredients into a big soup pot to simmer. The soup had a lot of wonderful flavors. I loved the flavor of the roasted squash with the creamy coconut milk, spicy chilies, and thai spices. It was pretty simple to throw together and I couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out! I served it with a side of jasmine rice and ended up mixing a few tablespoons of the rice into the soup. It turned out to be a great combination!
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Achiote Roasted Butternut Squash Tacos

May 22, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Who knew butternut squash could be so versatile? As a kid, I remember only having it around Thanksgiving and the holidays. It turns out butternut squash is great on both pizza and tacos. The squash is rubbed with ground annatto/achiote seeds, cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika. Then it’s roasted in the oven until soft. For the toppings, I caramelized an onion with brown sugar and smoked paprika. The tacos were sweet and spicy and so good! I added a tablespoon of the black bean salsa along with some queso fresco for garnish.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza with Pancetta and Balsamic Caramelized Onions

May 18, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Butternut squash is a food that can be surprisingly versatile. So far I have enjoyed it in a variety of recipes but this pizza is by far one of the best. The squash is coated in olive oil, sage and rosemary and baked until soft. The onions sauteed in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar provide a nice balance of sweet and tart. Those flavors work really well with the squash and smoky pancetta. As for the cheese, I used Mozzarella but I would guess that Fontina cheese would be fine too. I also scooped some of the seeds out of the squash to roast in the oven which I used as a final topping. They taste just like pumpkin seeds and it was a really nice last minute addition on the pizza. I wouldn’t use a lot of salt on this recipe as the pancetta is naturally on the salty side and roasting the seeds with salt provides enough flavor for the rest of the pizza. The result was a great pizza with flavors that complimented each other really well.

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Pumpkin Gnocchi

March 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Gnocchi is a flavored pasta dough and it can be mixed with sweet or russet potatoes, butternut squash or pumpkin. I made sweet potato gnocchi a while ago and I thought it would be fun to try it with pumpkin instead. Making gnocchi is somewhat time consuming but really isn’t too bad compared with making other pasta from scratch. All you do is mix the dough with the flavoring that you want, roll the dough into logs and cut them into small pieces. The dough is boiled and then fried. The whole process takes about 2 hours to complete but it is worth the effort as the little pillows of pumpkin practically melt in the mouth!

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere, and Sage

November 24, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Butternut squash for me is a staple during the fall and winter, especially during holidays like Thanksgiving. I decided to try this recipe for butternut squash over Thanksgiving and I was not disappointed. The squash is roasted and tossed with caramelized onions, sage, and melted gruyere cheese. The squash added a nice pop of color on the plate and the melted gruyere was delicious with the sage and butternut squash. It takes a long time for the squash to roast in the oven but it ended up being well worth it.

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Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Sage

November 4, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This soup is surprisingly easy to throw together and it creates such a delicious aroma in your house! The smell of pancetta and sage slow cooking for hours is how I think a kitchen should smell when it’s cold and damp during the Fall season. You could easily use canned pumpkin or make the pumpkin puree yourself with this soup. Also, substituting any kind of tasty winter squash would work well with this recipe. After dicing up the veggies and pan frying the onion and pancetta, you can sit back as the soup simmers for several hours on low heat. I garnished the soup with a little crispy fried sage and toasted pumpkin seeds.

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