By Emily Weinstein, The New York Times
Winter squash, I love you. I love you in soups, stews and grain bowls, roasted with bacon for pasta, nearly melted into risotto and baked into bubbling lasagna. I love you for sweater weather and in the depths of winter, when it gets dark in New York at 5 p.m., and a good dinner really helps things. There are a lot of standout squash recipes on New York Times Cooking, many of which were conceived as sides but are perfectly delicious for dinner with rice or farro and something like nuts or cheese on top.
1. Butternut Squash Pasta With Brown-Butter Breadcrumbs
A fun tip for easy squash pasta: Boil cubed squash with your pasta. Not only does it save time and effort, but also the salted pasta water helps thoroughly season the squash. The pasta and squash are then drained together and returned to the pot, where some of the tender squash breaks down and helps create a rich, creamy sauce without the addition of heavy cream. A fragrant brown butter thatap been infused with garlic and sage is used two ways in this meal: It serves as the base for the sauce, and it flavors the crispy breadcrumb topping.
By Kay Chun
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 fresh sage leaves plus 1 sprig
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup finely chopped shallot (from 2 large shallots)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
- 1 pound rotini or fusilli pasta
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Pinch of red-pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for garnish
Preparation
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
2. While the water comes to a boil, in a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add sage leaves and sprig, and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter browns and sage leaves are lightly golden around the edges, about 3 minutes. Transfer sage leaves to a paper-towel-lined plate and discard the sprig. (The leaves will crisp up as they cool.) Scrape the browned butter into a small bowl.
3. Return 2 tablespoons of the browned butter to the skillet over medium. Add breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring constantly, until golden and crispy, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to the paper-towel-lined plate.
4. Wipe out skillet and add oil and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and the remaining reserved browned butter until well combined, then transfer to a small bowl.
5. Once the pot of water comes to a boil, season with salt and add squash. Cook for 5 minutes; add pasta and cook until squash is tender and pasta is al dente, 7 to 8 minutes longer. Reserve 1½ cups of the pasta water, then drain.
6. Return cooked pasta and squash to the pot and add 1 cup of the reserved pasta water and the shallot mixture. Heat over medium, stirring vigorously until well blended and some of the squash mashes into the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes. Add more pasta water to taste, if a glossier consistency is desired. Turn off heat and stir in the lemon juice, red-pepper flakes (if using) and ½ cup cheese; season with salt and pepper.
7. Divide pasta among bowls and top each with some of the brown-butter breadcrumbs and crispy sage leaves. Garnish with more cheese.
2. Vegetable Maafé
A great maafé effortlessly balances sweet, savory, earthy and spicy. Maafé is often called West African peanut stew, but thatap an oversimplification. Across the region, there are many versions that feature peanuts as a base, and all are greatly nuanced: For example, there’s akitiwa in Togo, nkatenkwan in Ghana and miyan taushe across northern Nigeria. This highly adaptable stew can be made with any assortment of meat, poultry, seafood and seasonal vegetables you have on hand (see tip), but this one goes all in on produce. Keeping the Scotch bonnet whole in the sauce controls the heat: cook to soften, then break it open to dissolve seeds in the sauce for more heat, or cook and remove the softened whole chile from the sauce for less heat. Serve it all over steamed rice, millet or fonio, with some lime slices for squeezing. Maafé can be made ahead, refrigerated and reheated for a warm, comforting meal whenever you need — its rich flavor only improves with time.
By Yewande Komolafe
Yield: 6 servings
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, scrubbed and grated
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 red Scotch bonnet pepper
- Salt
- 2 medium green plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see tip)
- 1/2 medium butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see tip)
- 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces (see tip)
- 4 cups vegetable stock or water
- 1/2 cup creamy, unsalted peanut butter
- 2 tablespoon tamarind purée (optional)
- 2 teaspoons ground dawadawa (see tip) or 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
- 4 cups hearty greens, such as mature spinach, turnip greens, collards or kale, chopped with stems
- Steamed rice, fonio or millet, for serving
- 1 lime, sliced, for squeezing
Preparation
1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium, and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until soft and just beginning to brown at the edges, about 6 minutes. Add in the grated ginger and sauté until fragrant, 1 minute.
2. Add the tomato paste, stirring to evenly coat the vegetables. Cook until the paste turns brick red, 1 minute. Add the whole tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the tomatoes in the pot. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any bits that have stuck to the surface. Using a sharp knife, poke slits in the Scotch bonnet and drop it into the pot. Season the sauce with salt, and bring the sauce to a simmer.
3. Add the plantains and cook until they just begin to soften, 10 minutes. Add the butternut squash, carrots and vegetable stock. Increase the heat to high and bring the stew up to a boil. Once the liquid is bubbling, reduce heat to medium. Cook until the vegetables are just fork tender, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter with 1/4 cup hot liquid from the pot. Stir into a loose sauce.
4. Stir the peanut butter mixture into the pot. Add the tamarind purée, ground dawadawa or fish sauce, if using. Stir in the greens. Drop the heat to low and let the sauce simmer, stirring frequently, for another 10 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to a creamy but loose consistency. Remove from heat, taste and season with more salt if necessary. Remove the Scotch bonnet chile and discard. Serve maafé over steamed rice, fonio or millet, with a couple of lime slices for squeezing.
TIPS: Maafé lends itself to a variety of fall vegetables: potatoes, pumpkin, kabocha or any type of squash, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, or a mix of mushrooms. Substitute the amounts above with the same amounts of any mix of vegetables. Dawadawa is a fermented locust bean product frequently used in West African cooking to add deep, robust flavor to soups and stews. It can be found as a ground powder or whole beans in the spice aisles of any African grocer. Possible alternatives are fish sauce or fermented black beans.
3. Spicy Sheet-Pan Sausage and Squash
Like chicken thighs, whose rendered skin leaves behind a puddle of schmaltz for frying vegetables, bread or beans, sausage yields a delicious fat for cooking. Paired with butternut squash and crisped in a hot oven, its spicy fat slicks the sweet squash, while parsley and lemon cut through all the richness. Feel free to switch up the squash for carrots, broccoli, potatoes: Any vegetables that are good roasted will work well in that liquid gold. If the meal seems light, bulk it up by topping with a cup of feta or rinsed canned chickpeas, adding arugula or watercress to the parsley, or serving it all on a bed of kale or mustard greens, like a warm salad.
By Ali Slagle
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 (2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise and seeded
- 1 pound spicy sausage (fresh chorizo, Italian, Andouille or otherwise)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 1/2 cup parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as desired
- Flaky salt, as desired
Preparation
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees and stick a large baking sheet in the oven. Prep the squash and sausage: Cut the squash into 1/2-inch-thick slices, then cut the slices crosswise in half. Transfer to a large bowl. Score the sausages in a few places on both sides, making sure not to cut all the way through. Transfer to the bowl with the squash, then stir to coat with the olive oil and fat pinches of salt and pepper.
2. When the oven comes to temperature, carefully dump the squash and sausage mixture onto the hot baking sheet and spread it out into a single layer. Roast, stirring every so often to coat the squash in the rendered fat, until the squash is tender and sausages are crisp and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. (To add some color, put them under the broiler for a minute or two.) Let cool slightly while you prepare the parsley.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the parsley and lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to taste. Slice the sausage diagonally in thirds. Serve the sausage and squash on a platter with a pile of parsley on top and sprinkled with an extra squeeze of lemon and flaky salt, if desired.
TIP: The squash and sausage can be roasted 3 days in advance. Reheat in a low oven before serving.
4. Roasted Chicken Thighs With Winter Squash
Roasted chicken thighs can be the juicy, meaty center of many weeknight meals. Add delicata squash, quickly tossed in a maple syrup-butter glaze, along with slices of lemon and sage, and you have a something more unusual, an interplay of flavors that don’t generally meet on the same sheet pan. This recipe is a little too fussy to count as a fast weeknight dish, but there is nothing difficult about any of the steps. And itap a fine introduction to delicata squash, if you haven’t cooked with them yet. Unlike many other winter squash varieties, they have a thin skin and don’t need to be peeled (just cut them in half and remove the seeds), making them as easy to prepare as they are sweet.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 45 minutes, plus 30 minutes’ marinating
Ingredients
- 1/2 lemon, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise, seeds removed, and thinly sliced crosswise into wedges
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 and 1/2 pounds)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped sage
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons coriander seed
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- Large pinch chile powder
- 1 delicata or acorn squash (1 1/4 pounds), seeded and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rings
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, white and light-green parts
Preparation
1. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil; drop in lemon slices and cook for two minutes. Drain well.
2. In a large bowl, toss chicken with lemon slices, 1 tablespoon oil, sage, coriander, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Let stand 30 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine syrup, butter, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and chile powder. Simmer for 3 minutes. Toss mixture with squash.
5. Spread squash in a 9-by-13-inch pan or on a large rimmed baking sheet. Nestle chicken and lemon on top of squash. Roast for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, toss scallions and remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Scatter over chicken and squash; keep roasting until chicken is no longer pink, about 20 minutes more.
5. Simmered Kabocha Squash With Scallions
When you can’t eat one more roasted winter vegetable, this bright, fragrant soup-stew does the trick. Itap from “A Common Table” by Cynthia Chen McTernan, who publishes a food blog called Two Red Bowls. Kabocha, which she calls her “soul-mate squash,” has a special earthy texture and a nutty flavor, but you could also do this with buttercup squash. Serve as a side dish, or as a light dinner with freshly cooked rice and a fried egg.
Recipe from Cynthia Chen McTernan
Adapted by Julia Moskin
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola or peanut
- 8 to 10 cups cubed kabocha squash, skin off or on (from 1 squash, 2 to 3 pounds); see note
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced or chopped scallions (6 to 8 scallions), more for serving
- About 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- Salt and ground black pepper
- Sriracha, soy sauce or both, for serving (optional)
Preparation
1. In a wide skillet or wok, heat the oil over high heat until shimmering. Add the squash and toss with a spatula until evenly coated with oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, 5 minutes.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the scallions. Stir, then add 1/2 cup of broth and stir again. Adjust the heat to a simmer. If using skin-on squash, turn the pieces so that the skin is submerged; this allows them to cook evenly.
3. Cover and simmer until squash is tender and skin (if using) is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure the pot isn’t cooking dry; add broth as needed to keep the mixture simmering. The broth will reduce and thicken into a light sauce.
4. When cooked through, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, stir and taste the squash and the broth. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot, sprinkled with extra scallions. Ladle a little extra hot broth over each serving.
TIP: The rind of kabocha squash usually becomes soft enough to eat, but you may also remove it beforehand. When choosing, note that the smoothest squash (with fewer nubs and bumps) will be the most tender.
This article originally appeared in .
