Butternut Squash Burger

When I visited London last year, I happened to be visiting over National Pancake Day. Now, in the US, we have these food holidays all the time and sometimes they come with free things like a free donut with your coffee or free coffee, for that matter. Pancake Day was no exception and I found a place that sounded perfect for the occasion: The Breakfast Club.

Of course, when we got there (on a weekday, no less) there was a line out the door. So when I moved here, I saw there was one near where I was staying so on day 1, checked out this place for brunch. I was impressed with their traditional breakfasts (including an American Breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausages and bacon) but they also had a variety of Eggs Benedict where you could swap the muffin (is it still an English muffin here?) for butternut squash. Genius!

I've now been to The Breakfast Club several times and most recently, had their veggie burger which was actually butternut squash, halloumi cheese, portobello mushroom and avocado. Plus goat cheese because more cheese! This was definitely a fork and knife burger.

It was so good and so fall with the squash, I decided to recreate it with white fish instead of cheese. I also definitely dropped the entire pan of roasted butternut squash on the floor. Five second rule!!

Roasted butternut squash is stacked with pan-seared white fish. I used cod seasoned with some lemon juice. Layer with portobello mushroom and avocado. I skipped the bun so stacked another butternut squash patty on top. Definitely fork and knife material here.

Recipe

• 1 small butternut squash
• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 2 filets of white fish 
• 1 lemon
• 1 avocado

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
2. Prepare the butternut squash by first peeling with a vegetable peeler or carefully with a knife. Cut off the ends and slice into 1/2 inch slices. When you reach the bulb of the squash, scoop out the seeds and continue slicing. These pieces will be more like rings.
3. Place the butternut squash slices on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake until easily pierced with a fork, about 20-25 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the fish. In a skillet, heat a small amount of oil to prevent the fish from sticking. 
5. Cook until no longer transparent. I used skin-on fillets and cooked them skin up.
6. In a separate pan, cook the portobello mushrooms until soft.
7. Stack the fish, mushroom and sliced avocado between two slices of butternut squash.

Chicken Butternut Squash Stew

I'm doing this thing, no big deal, but this healthy eating thing. In case you're a regular, you may have noticed fewer baked goods on this blog of late. Don't panic, my sweet tooth is very much still intact but my desire to be healthy has muted it a bit.

Along these lines, I've tried to make balanced meals each week that have a good helping of protein and vegetables while not neglecting the grains. To the crockpot!

Butternut squash is a favorite for me, especially if it's soup. But I'm lazy when it comes to prep will sometimes cave and get the pre-peeled, pre-diced version. But those chunks always look a bit dry seeing as they've been exposed to air for awhile. So I decided to get clever. Although squash rinds look pretty thick, it's actually fairly easy to use a vegetable peeler! Amazing.

This soup came out more of a stew for me since I used 4 cups of broth instead of the recommended 5 cups. If you prefer soup to stew, you can add more liquid (either broth or water). The chicken, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, garlic, quinoa and squash all go in the crockpot and are covered with the broth.

Set to high for 3-4 hours (or low for twice that long), the liquid cooks a nice and tender chicken. Similar to the chicken tortilla soup, you can shred the chicken with a couple of fork. I used hefty sized garlic cloves so this had a strong garlic flavor (sorry, office mates) but you can season with pepper or paprika for a little more kick if you prefer.

Recipe

• 1-1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked but rinsed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4-5 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

1. In a crockpot, place the chicken breasts on the bottom. Pour the beans, tomatoes, squash, quinoa and garlic over the chicken. 
2. Stir carefully to mix ingredients.
3. Pour broth over ingredients. For more of a stew, use 4 cups. For a soup consistency, use closer to 5 cups.
4. Set the crockpot to high for 3-4 hours until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender (alternatively, cook on low for 6-8 hours).
5. Serve hot!

Kale & Butternut Squash Stuffing

I read an article recently that discussed what people eat at Thanksgiving. The most common answer is "the usual" which makes sense to me, I mean, we're saying stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, cranberry sauce, turkey, mashed potatoes and all the pie. But maybe that also includes butternut squash soup or pumpkin risotto or Jello, no?

 

Here's a proposal: in all the Friendsgivings, Thanksgivings, and potlucks, there's some room for experimentation on "the usual". This recipe comes from the Oh She Glows cookbook and aligns well with my transition from pumpkin things to Christmas things. This recipe is also super simple.

You could get a whole butternut squash to roast but I bought those convenient pre-cut packaged squash. Not the freshest but certainly convenient! Right up there with pre-peeled chestnuts. The butternut squash is roasted in a casserole dish with garlic, parsley, salt, and olive oil. The lid for my dish was not oven safe so I just covered it with aluminum foil.

 

While the squash is cooking, almonds and pecans are placed in a food processor with olive oil to create a crunchy topping. When the squash is cooked through, fork-friendly, stir in some chopped kale and the nut mixture. Return to the oven for five more minutes until the nuts are slightly toasted.

I found this was best served warm and if you have guests that have a nut allergy, it still tastes delicious without the almond-pecan topping.

Don't worry, there will be pie!

Recipe

• 2-3 lbs. butternut squash, diced (peeled and seeded if using a whole squash)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup kale, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. Chop butternut squash and add cubes to a casserole dish (oven-proof). 
3. Add the minced garlic, parsley, salt and olive oil to the casserole dish and carefully stir.
4. Using the dish's lid or aluminum foil, cover the dish and roast for 30-45 minutes until the squash is tender.
5. Meanwhile, combine the almonds, pecans and olive oil in a food processor. Pulse until chopped into a crumbly consistency. Set aside.
6. Chop approximately one cup of kale. You can use more if you'd prefer.
7. Remove the squash from the oven and add the nut topping and kale. Carefully stir together.
8. Leaving the dish uncovered, continue baking for 5 minutes to toast the almonds and pecans. 
9. Serve warm! 

Butternut Squash Curry

Let's take a break from pumpkin. We're not breaking up, we're just taking some time apart to explore other orange autumn gourds. Is that cool? Okay, great!

Did I mention I love orange? When I was younger, I loved red but red was an angry color (#ariesproblems) so I pretended it was both red and silver which made it way cooler (and matched my sneakers) but really, yes, I love fire colors (#ariesproblemsstill) which happen to be autumn colors. That perfect red-orange of the fall leaves makes me smile like woah. What's even more beautiful about it is it's soooo hard to capture. Even if you paint it or photograph it, it's just not he same. I think Peeta and I would get along (this is the part where I reveal I'm a nerd who memorized that part where he's like "my favorite color is orange, not like Effie's hair but like sunset". Magical).

Squash has that orange color that gets us all happy but it's more of a complimentary orange to the leaves. I'm a big fan of butternut squash soup although it's fairly work-intensive. This curry turned out to be a lot of chopping but otherwise pretty low maintenance. I'm a fan.

Initially, I assumed I would need to cook the squash and then scoop out the cooked parts for this curry. Apparently, you can cook and eat the rind! Whaaaat, minus 2 hours of work, bam. That's not to say it's not challenging to chop the raw squash. I'm pretty sure I got a blister.

The onions and garlic and cilantro are chopped up first and set to cook in a big pot with oil. I finally learned the proper way to chop cilantro (thank you Barefoot Contessa on Saturday mornings). Instead of chopping the leaves and what not like you normally would (you know what I mean), you scrape the leaves off by using your knife in a downward motion along the stalks. This strips away the leaves without the stalks. Fabulous!

While the onions etc. are cooking, we chop the squash. Perhaps chop some squash before starting to cook the onions because it takes some time. The pot sounded angry, like feed me, so I quickly added some liquid to that bad boy in the form of water, coconut milk and then the squash. Chickpeas (drained) and some chopped spinach fortify this curry. Like it needed to be any better.

Don't forget the curry! I don't know why but when I make red curry dishes, they're significantly less spicy than red curry dishes at restaurants. So I added a healthy amount of curry, let it cook a bit, taste tested and added some sambal oelek (that spicy stuff from this carrot soup last year). Just for some extra kick.

Once all that chopping is done, it's easy clean up and rice cooker set up. Everything comes together in a bowl and I ended up discarding some of the liquid as the curry was a bit soupy. It should be a little liquidy but drowning the rice.

I couldn't even tell that the rind had stayed on the squash. I wonder if it's like bread where all the vitamins are in the crust. Let's go with yes so we can say this was extra packed with vitamins (because I think it was).

Perfect for lunch in the park or dinner in the warmth of your home.

Recipe

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1-2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 medium white onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 can of chickpeas (drained)
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 cups of water (less if you want a thicker curry)
• 1 teaspoon curry paste
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of sambal oelek

1. I recommend chopping everything at once and setting aside. Chop your butternut squash so it's in small pieces (the original recipe said chickpea sized but it's based on your preference). Dice the onion and shear the cilantro leaves from the stem before chopping. Also dice your garlic.
2. Add the onion, garlic and cilantro to a medium pot with the oil. Allow the ingredients to cook and sweat until the onion is somewhat translucent.
3. Add the coconut milk and water to the pot. 
4. Next, add the squash, drained chickpeas, and spices (curry paste and sambal oelek).
5. Allow the mixture to come to a low boil. Then reduce the heat and cover to cook completely.
6. While the mixture cooks, you can make your rice according to the instructions. 
7. The curry will be done in about 30 minutes but you can test it by checking if the squash is tender and easily speared with a fork.
8. Serve the curry over rice (or eat like a soup).