Savory Butternut Squash Pie

Heather is definitely the queen of pie! She alerted me to the National Pie Day which was on January 23. I know, I know, you've missed it for this year, BUT March 14 (aka 3.14 aka the REAL Pi day) is coming up soon, so all these pie recipes are going to come in handy!

This is one of my favorite savory pie recipes. I love squash. I love cheese. Perfect!



Ingredients
single crust pie dough (I like the vodka pie crust recipe that Heather previously wrote about)
2 lb butternut squash (I usually opt to buy two 1lb squashes because I think the smaller ones taste better!)
2 eggs
generous 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp butter, softened (optional, this makes a rich pie even richer, but it's so good!)

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 400. Roll out your pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Cook the squash. I prefer to cut it in half, put the cut half down on a large plate and microwave it for 20 minutes. You can also roast the squash in the oven for a richer flavor, but this takes longer! Once the squash is cooked, allow it to cool (if you're using the microwave, it's going to be HOT. You may want to put the plate in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process. Once it's cool, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl and mash it with a fork, this should be easy and you don't want large clumps.
2. Add the eggs and mix well.
3. Add the cheese, salt, nutmeg, cayenne and butter and mix until the filling is homogenous. You don't want to blend this, it should still have a little texture!
4. Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until the squash juuuust starts to brown a little.
5. Allow the pie to cool for at least an hour before serving, though you may rewarm slices in the oven or microwave before serving.

Butternut Squash, Spinach and Bread Salad

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

1 small onion or ½ large onion

½ to 1 bunch spinach

about ¼ a loaf of preferably rustic bread

Asiago cheese

salt

pepper

Peel and chop the butternut squash into one-inch cubes. Toss with salt and olive oil and roast at 450 F until tender when pierced by a fork, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Chop onion and sauté on medium for 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 5 minutes until onions are tender. You can also cook until onions are caramelized.

Chop day-old (or older, as long as it isn’t moldy) bread into cubes. Toast in a skillet with a bit of olive oil until a bit brown.

Chop spinach into ribbons. Toss all the cooked ingredients and spinach together in a bowl. The heat of the squash will slightly cook the spinach. Add cheese, salt and pepper to your taste.

Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Penne

almost exactly this recipe

This recipe helped me get rid of a few of things that I was worrying were getting really old (a squash, a red onion). The original recipe only called for 8oz of pasta (boxes are usually 16oz). After cutting up the squash, I thought half a box of pasta would not be enough so I used more, and increased everything else too. Look at the picture! Squash to pasta ratio did not need to increase! I liked this a lot, except for the pasta. I used Barilla Whole Wheat Pasta (not the Barilla Plus, which was a dollar more per box) and didn't really like that much. That's the only thing I'd change. The flavors are good, as is. They are simple, but go together so well!

I had a bottle of Dogfish Head Punk beer with it. That was a good match. I know it's kind of past pumpkin beer time, but I love DFH beer and I found a 4 pack of this at Whole Foods, so I had to buy it!



Ingredients:
16 oz penne (or other similarly sized pasta)
3 Tbsp olive oil
12 whole sage leaves
1 medium to large red onion, sliced thin
4 (or more) cloves of garlic, minced
2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)
grated parmesan for garnishing (or not, if you're vegan)

Directions:
1. Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to directions. When draining, rinse with cold water so it doesn't get sticky. Return to pot (if the pot is huge!) or a large mixing bowl.
2. In the largest skillet/wok you have, heat oil over medium heat.
3. Fry sage leaves until crispy, about 1 minute on each side. Remove to paper towel. Step out of the kitchen and then back in so you can really appreciate the smell of the fried sage.
4. Add onions and garlic to the skillet and fry until soft, stirring pretty much constantly.
5. Once soft, add squash, water, salt and pepper to skillet and stir to mix.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until squash is soft, stirring occasionally. The recipe says this will only take 5-7 minutes. It took me more like 20 or 25. Possibly because a) I cut the squash pieces too big and/or b) I didn't adequately cover the skillet for the first 10 minutes. I didn't have a lid for the skillet and so I used the two largest I had, overlapping... until! I realized that I could just use the second largest skillet I had as a lid. Ta-da!
7. Once soft (test by tasting! om nom nom!), pour the squash mixture into the pasta and mix until pasta is fully coated. Add a little more water if necessary (I didn't need more water).
8. Garnish with the fried sage (whole leaves for presentation, or crushed up leaves for a more dispersed flavor) and parmesan cheese (unless you're a vegan).