This was my vision for dinner last night.
Turned out pretty much exactly how I pictured it!
Bonus: it was way tastier than I could have ever hoped for!
The butternut squash puree is outstanding enough to stand on it’s own…add in pasta, sautéed vegan sausage, and steamed kale…oh baby!
It’s definitely worth repeating.
The reason we kept the meal’s components separate was because I wanted kale and Kyle didn’t. He was kale-d out from the previous night’s dinner (I, on the other hand, could eat leafy greens exclusively for weeks on end…). So I decided a soup station would be a fun little twist. Like a salad bar for soup!
I made this over the course of the day, so by dinner time things were almost ready to go which made the assembly line easy to prepare.
First thing was making the butternut squash puree.
Since I was going to blend it into a liquid, I didn’t bother with chopping it first. All I did was wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven for 1 hr 45 minutes at 350 degrees. The reason it took so long was because (1) it was a thick squash with hardly any hollow insides and (2) I was trying to get it as close to mush as possible. For a normal sized squash I’d recommend 90 minutes.
I set the oven timer and went about my daily activities…
After the timer went off I left it out on the counter until dinner time (still wrapped in the foil).
Eventually the time came to puree the insides.
It sliced open so easily I could have cut it with a spoon. The flesh was soft as butter and (even hours later) still warm.
I scooped out ~3 cups of the flesh and added it to a blender. [Don’t worry if you get some of the softer part of the peel – more fiber!]
Creamy Butternut Squash Puree (v, gf)
- ~3 cups butternut squash flesh
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper (to taste)
First I blended the squash with the EVOO, scraping the sides of the blender down and stirring as needed.
After it was fairly well pureed, I added the milk and spices and pulsed some more. This thinned it out a bit (although it was still thicker than a soup – making it a hearty and creamy consistency).
Last I blended in the soy sauce and apple cider vinegar.
[above] squash solo; [below] the final product
Silky smooth and so so savory!
This could also double as a baby food recipe (maybe without the cayenne pepper though). Although if I were feeding this to a newborn, I’d probably end up eating most of it myself. <– reason #2904 I’m not ready to be a parent. 😉
As I said before, you could easily enjoy this squash soup by itself, but I wanted a more hearty and filling stew, so I made pasta too.
These organic Garofalo pastas are sold in 6-packs at Costco and they are one of our pantry staples.
Pasta is the easiest. It’s the ingredient you can put on the stove and forget about. Which I did.
They were definitely on the softer side (fine by me).
The two ingredients left were kale and sausage, which I prepped right before serving.
I sautéed the kale in nothing but cooking spray (with a lid on top it steamed in less than a minute).
Barely wilty and ready to go!
I used Tofurky’s Italian sausage, which I sliced super thin (more bang for your buck that way).
So much flavor in this little bowl!
All ready to be served!
I filled my bowl with a heaping portion of kale, followed by pasta and sausage, and then poured the creamy butternut squash puree on top.
Stirred up and ready to dig in.
Soup’s on!
This recipe yielded enough for Kyle and I to both have seconds, which we did. The squash, sausage, and kale were all gone after we had our way with them. And we were both fuller than full.
Another perk about having separate ingredients? The leftover pasta can be used in a totally different recipe!
mmmm – be over at 7:30 !
YUMMY! It looks like a fancy macaroni and cheese! I’ve never made butternut squash yet…Maybe I need to start…This looks super easy and I have most of the ingredients. Thanks!
that butternut squash puree looks so good! I love butternut squash, I made a great dip for Christmas with almond butter, cinnamon, and agave!
why didn’t you invite me over!?
Oh my Goddess that looks sooooooo gooooood! Thank you so much for sharing! I think I might try it out.
I did roast veggies tonight and WOW did they turn out great for my first time!
oh man, that squash puree-as-pasta-sauce looks divine. gotta try it.
YUM!
I can’t wait to try this! It look so delicious.
I actually cooked my first butternut squash yesterday so I’m excited to try more recipes!
Looks awesome! Love squash sauces…. make them for Misty all the time – he loves anything orange (just like his Mama!) so yes, I end up eating a lot of his food. Oh and a touch of cayenne is fine, Misty seems to love that and chilli but he’s a weirdo like me, so I can’t speak for all 12 month olds!
How cute! I love how you had everything separated out for serving. That’s typically how I do my meals, as well. That way the leftovers can be used in more ways than one.
The flavors in this dish sound amaaazing. I’m definitely going to be making the puree. And I have those noodles all the time! Love them.
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it when I get my CSA basket this week!
I love the “lazy cook” method of the butternut squash! I hate peeling those darn things…and this would eliminate it! Did you poke any holes in it or did you just throw it in the oven with no prep whatsoever?
nope. nada prep. just wrapped in tin foil.
I kind of LOVE that you kept the components separate…I’m loving the idea of the butternut puree as more of a pasta sauce. I think I’d want to just dip everything and anything (even my fingers?) into that!
Thank you for the recipe inspiration – I made it last night. I crumbled up a boca burger that had been floating around in the freezer since we didn’t have vegan sausage and then topped with a liberal amount of sriracha – seriously delicious!!!! and my husband loved it too 🙂
Bahaha I love your depiction of vegan sausage! Looks like a tasty meal- I could also eat leafy greens for weeks on end! 🙂
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