Butternut Squash Gratin
Butternut Squash Gratin is a recipe I tend to forget about for months at a time. Then I’ll remember it, cook it, and wonder how I could’ve forgotten something so wonderful.
This recipe comes from the first edition of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. While the title is truly accurate–one need not be vegetarian to find this an enormously useful book– it’s the vegetable section I refer to constantly. From artichokes to winter squash to nearly every edible plant in between, Madison offers indispensable information on cooking methods, food pairings, and what’s in season when.The recipes require neither tremendous skills nor expensive equipment. And they always work.
As squash and pumpkin are native to North America, they are naturals for the American holiday table. That’s no reason to restrict Butternut Squash Gratin to festival eating. Serve any time during the cooler months as a side dish, a vegetarian main dish, or for lunch with salad and bread.
While the recipe is easily halved (or doubled), leftovers are delightful, preferably reheated in the oven, which preserves those deliciously crispy bits. Leftover gratin may also be added to soup, or made into scones, using a recipe that will appear in the very next post. Or just eat it all up, something the IK manages with no trouble at all.
(Hey! I figured out how to use the link feature! It only took, what, five months? I type from beneath my desk, utterly humiliated.) (hmm, maybe not, she added.) (months later: finally, yes, she did.)
The most difficult part of Butternut Squash Gratin is the prep:lots of peeling and slicing. Fellow sufferers of hand maladies should perform their preferred self-care regimens (i.e. chanting, tea, legal drugs) before embarking on this recipe. I promise it’s worth the pain.
Butternut Squash Gratin, adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone
yield: 4-6 servings
One 2-2 1/2 pound butternut squash
3-5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
sea salt and black pepper
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Peel and seed the squash.
You have the option of cutting it into small cubes or larger chunks: cubes collapse at the end of cooking time. Larger chunks do not.
The gratin tastes delicious either way. Place the cubed squash in a shallow gratin dish.
Fold in the garlic, salt, pepper, and flour. Madison’s recipe calls for 5 garlic cloves. My garlic cloves were very large, so I used three. Use your judgement and love of garlic. In terms of salt and pepper, you want the squash just seasoned: think about 2 teaspoons of salt and 1teaspoon of black pepper. I find my hands are the best tools for blending everything, though I’d suggest a gentle approach, lest your squash tumble out the pan and hit your clean sweats before landing on the floor (ahem).
Drizzle the olive oil liberally over the top, if you need a measure, use at least a tablespoon.
Bake for two hours.
Note: I’ve adapted Madison’s recipe slightly, replacing parsley with fresh thyme, as the recipe seems to call out for it. Should you prefer parsley, you’ll want 1/2 cup fresh, chopped.
