Sunday, December 10, 2006

Roasted Squash, yum!!

This was a dish I made this weekend and came out very good. I don’t have an actual recipe for it, but more a method of preparation for roasting the squash.
Butternut is by far my favorite of the winter squashes. It is sweet and creamy, and when roasted it gets mellow and better tasting yet. I really like this squash, especially when roasted and pureed into a soup, but baked like this, into chunks, it became so soft and intense in flavor that each cube provided the most pleasant taste sensations to my taste buds.
I peeled, deseeded, seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted the squash at 400F for about 40 minutes. I threw in a diced red pepper into the oven with the squash at the last fifteen minutes of the baking time, just to get an extra flavor in there. The peppers got mellow and sweet, soft and delicious as only red bell peppers can get, plus the flavor went really well with the squash.
After roasting, the squash and peppers can be tossed with simple balsamic vinaigrette, to punch up the flavors even more. I then laid them on top of a bed of fresh spinach (seasoned with salt and pepper) and sprinkled with crumbled goat cheese.
The salad was delicious, tasty, and just talking about it is making my mouth water for some more.
I guess I will have to buy some more butternut squash this week!
Ana

5 comments:

Patricia Scarpin said...

Ana, this dish is so colorful!

I love spinach and haven't had any in quite a while.

What an amazing combination of flavors!

Akemi said...

Vou fazer abóbora assada para o jantar, vc me deu uma ótima idéia com esta salada!

brisa said...

Hmmm!! Eu achei esta e as duas receitas de pasta com jeito delicioso!!:)) Eu adoro pasta:))

Beijos e se nao falarmos, Boas Festas!! Mas tento te escrever antes disso..

Bri

Valentina said...

Ana, I can just see all those gorgeous flavours going beautifully together. What a fantastic meal!! You throw some amazing things together girl.would love to eat at your house regularly.

Ana said...

Patricia, this was soo good, I can't wait to make again!

Clarice, se vc fez tomara q tenha gostado tbem!!

Brisa, que bom te ver por aqui, fiquei feliz com o seu comentario!
Feliz Natal p/ vc e sua familia tbem!

Valentina, this was a moment's inspiration and turned out so good that I can't wait to make it again, really good, and I love butternut!

Ana