Weekend Cookbook Challenge 33: Fall Vegetables

After making last week’s butternut squash risotto with the Barefoot Bloggers, I still had half a squash left, prepped and ready to be used. I decided to search through some less-frequently used cookbooks, hoping to find a good recipe for the squash and to locate other potential recipes for future use. I have a collection of Best of Gourmet’s, and, as luck would have it, found a likely candidate in the 2000 edition. In the chapter on Vegetables and Beans, there was a recipe for Lentils with Butternut Squash and Walnuts. Perfect.

So, for lunch today, that is what I made, roasting the squash with shallots and curry powder, and tossing in the walnuts towards the end. I did use fresh parsley rather than cilantro, but that’s a personal choice. It did make a tasty lunch, a nice change from the usual sandwich or leftover.

Lentils with Butternut Squash and Walnuts

(adapted from Best of Gourmet 2000, p. 166)

1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound)

1 large shallot

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ½ teaspoons curry powder

½ cup walnuts

1/3 cup lentils (any color will do)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley)

fresh lime juice to taste

Halve, peel, and seed the squash and cut into ½-inch pieces. Mince the shallot. In a bowl, toss together the squash, shallot, oil, curry powder, and salt & pepper to taste until combined well. Pour into a shallow baking pan and roast in a 425°F oven for about 15 minutes, or until the squash is barely tender.

Chop the walnuts and sprinkle over the squash mixture. Continue baking for about 10 more minutes, or until the walnuts are lightly toasted and the squash is tender.

While the squash is baking, cook the lentils until just tender but not too mushy, about 15 minutes. Drain lentils and transfer to a bowl.

When the squash mixture is finished roasting, remove from oven and add to lentils along with the cilantro or parsley, lime juice, and salt & pepper to taste.

Makes 2 large servings.

This is great as a side dish or a main dish, and because there no animal or wheat-based products in it, people on non-meat or gluten-free diets can enjoy it as well.

I’m going to use this dish as my entry for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge #33, Fall Vegetables. October’s hostess is Lisa at Confessions of an Apron Queen, and Sara at I like to cook is the WCC creator.