Butternut Squash with Maple Sage
This is a recipe I found to be extremely versatile. I made the maple-sage sauce and topped some baked butternut squash squares served on toast that had been dipped in the sauce and toasted. It was a hit as an appetizer! See my notes for this.This recipe makes it a starring side dish with this beautiful caramelized glaze - or you can choose to mash it all up like I did for my Thanksgiving stack. The flavor is the same. It all depends on your preference.Butternut or hubbard squash have become my favorites to replace the candied sweet potatoes I always had for Thanksgiving. You know, the ones that are left over for weeks because no one really wants that much sweetness when there are pies nearby. The squash is a little less sweet but savory at the same time.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut Squash
- 1/2 Cup Organic Maple Syrup
- 1 Onion See notes - sub 1 TSP Onion Powder
- 1/4 TSP Nutmeg
- 1 1/2 TBSP Ground sage See notes
- 1/4 TSP Himalayan salt
- 1/4 TSP Black pepper
Instructions
- Wash the squash and cut a slit into the bulb of the squash to provide a way for steam to escape. Bake at 400 Degrees F for 50 - 55 minutes of until you can easily put a knife through the squash. If you are using the whole onion you can bake that at the same time with your squash. No need to peel, just put it in the oven with the squash.
- Cut the squash where the neck meets the bulb portion. Slice open the bulb and remove the seeds. Peel the skin away from the squash.
- In a small bowl whisk together the maple syrup, sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add in onion powder if you are not using whole onions.
- Depending on how many people you are serving and the size of the squash, you can slice the neck to have perfect rounds of squash for each person and save the rest of the squash for another use. If you need the whole squash you can cut it into uniform cubes.
- You can now use the squash in multiple preparations. I am going to give you two.
- Method 1:Arrange your squash rounds or cubes in a baking dish. If using the rounds, use a skewer or fork to poke holes in the squash to get the sauce into them more.
- Peel and thinly slice your baked onion then top your squash rounds or toss in with the cubes.
- Pour your maple-sage over the squash and bake until the syrup is bubbly and brown.
- Method 2. You will want to use this method if you prefer a mash. Use a ricer* to mash your butternut squash cubes. Finely chop your baked onion and incorporate into your mash.
- Add 1/2 of your maple-sage mixture in with the mash. Place your mash in a baking dish and top with the remaining syrup and bake until syrup is bubbly and brown.
- I purposely did not specify a baking temperature because you will probably have several things in your oven to keep them warm up until serving time. The squash can be in the over for up to 30 minutes at 325 degrees or below. If it already browned to your satisfaction you can cover and take it out of the oven when you are ready to serve.
Notes
A Snap Pea Sheep recipe
If you intend to mash the butternut squash you may want to use onion powder instead of the baked onion. Personally I like the onions on mine.
* The appetizer I mentioned uses all of these same ingredients. I trimmed the crust off of plain bread, brushed it with the maple sage (with onion powder added) then toasted the bread. I then cut each slice it into fours and put a thin slice of baked butternut squash on top each one.
I brushed them again with the maple-sage syrup and put them in the oven for a few minutes (400 degrees F) to brown. These were a huge hit with the ladies!