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Versatile vegetable side dish can be dressed up or down

Recipe: Baked butternut squash casserole, plain or fancy

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED NOV 21, 2021

Orange casserole in a white dish on oven rack

Who needs marshmallows? Butternut squash is sweet enough. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Butternut squash subs for sweet potatoes in this lighter (and potentially healthier) version of a classic fall casserole. I say “potentially” because, like sweet potato casserole, it depends on what you put on top. Loaded with a layer of toasted mini marshmallows, it’s hard to describe a casserole as “healthier.”

But that’s the beauty of this butternut dish; it doesn’t need a fancy topping to be appealing. It’s tasty plain and golden brown.

If you like pumpkin pie spice, add more than a half teaspoon, which gives just a hint of seasonal spiciness. Or use one or more of this handy spice mixture’s ingredients: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.

Baked butternut squash casserole

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Peeled and cubed butternut squash — Butternut squash is peeled, seeded and cubed.

2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ cup (½ stick) butter or margarine, melted and cooled

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or more if desired)

Steam squash until tender. Mash. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or grease a 2-quart casserole dish; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together cream and beaten egg.

Mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add to cream mixture.

In a large bowl, combine mashed squash with melted butter. Fold in cream-cornstarch mixture.

Season to taste with salt and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour squash mixture into prepared casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes, until top is golden brown and, when inserted, a thin-bladed knife comes out clean.

Note: Add to the sweetness, texture or crunch with something extra on top. Possible toppings: Graham cracker crumbs, chopped walnuts or pecans, mini marshmallows. Sprinkle topping over casserole before baking with the exception of marshmallows. Add marshmallows in final 20 minutes of baking to avoid over-browning.

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A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

farm to form fall recipes fall vegetables Sacramento cooking recipe produce management winter squash butternut squash gardening casserole backyard produce Thanksgiving

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Garden Checklist for week of July 21

Your garden needs you!

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

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