I'm making squash cake

[Cool Foot Luke]

It's in the oven and should be out in 20 minutes. I did not realize how easy it was to roast squash.

My co-workers are soooo lucky...

[diablita]

yes they are.  but what is this squash cake you speak of?

[cgraz]

Yes, what's a squash cake? Very curious!

[merigayle]

Squash cake? interesting.

[Schrödinger’s Bat]

Recipe. I'm very curious.

[Cool Foot Luke]

Basically, I added 2 cups of roasted butternut squash to the wet ingredients for a standard cake. It tastes somewhat like Applesauce Spice Cake, whose spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and a bit of black pepper.

Of course, I ran out of AP flour and used 2/3 whole wheat, so along with the squash and my usual habit of cutting the sugar, it's practically health food...

[cgraz]

Adding squash to an applesauce spice type of cake sounds like it would be delish. How did it come out? Are the COW's giving it a thumbs up? And did you tell them it's healthy?

[Run Amok]

Yummy! You can use roasted squash in place of oil in a lot of recipes. You can also use it in place of pumpkin (sweet potato works well too).

[Cool Foot Luke]

It's good. People like it. They know about the squash, but not about the WW flour.

I've made better cakes.

As is, maybe 6.5 out of 10.

The recipe called for butter, but after a first pass I'd make it with oil. It has plenty of flavor on its own, so I'd prefer the moisture of the oil.

Whole wheat flour is OK, but AP flour would be tastier.

Those two tweaks on their own would take it past 8.

Toast some walnuts and add them and add cream cheese frosting and we're REALLY talking.

[merigayle]

Yum!

[diablita]

we'll be happy to taste test the next batch for you


good to know about the roasted squash.  I had no idea.

[cgraz]

Toast some walnuts and add them and add cream cheese frosting and we're REALLY talking.

Oh HELL yes.

Glad people liked it!

[Cool Foot Luke]

we'll be happy to taste test the next batch for you


good to know about the roasted squash.  I had no idea.

as a bonus, i have half of a butternut squash roasted and ready to go for whatever i may need it for. I'd been thinking about making a winter lasagna with butternut squash and kale in place of tomatoes and spinach, but the recipe exists only in my head at the moment

[diablita]

that would be perfect with a bechamel sauce w/ a hint of nutmeg and some roasted shitake mushrooms

[LilyLily]

that would be perfect with a bechamel sauce w/ a hint of nutmeg and some roasted shitake mushrooms

OMG.  I'm drooling.

[LilyLily]

Saw this and thought of you, Luke.  Butternut and Kale quesadillas

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/01/butternut-squash-kale-quesadillas/

[cgraz]

Wow, those look so good!

[diablita]

yes they do!

[Cool Foot Luke]

So I used up the rest of the squash for dinner today. Cooked up a field roast sausage with some swiss chard and squash.

It was pretty good. When I stirred the squash in it somewhat resembled mashed sweet potatoes in texture and flavor. I checked the nutrition facts on sparkpeople and found that it was a nutritional rockstar of a meal. Go me! But then I realized that I'd eaten half of a butternut squash in one sitting!

I'll probably turn orange.

I also realized that swiss chard has an insane amount of sodium (though an equally insane amount of potassium). Who knew? I should probably not routinely eat it with field roasts! Maybe I'll use kale in the future.

I also picked up ANOTHER butternut squash to try the lasagna Wednesday

[ihop]

This thread makes me crave squash.  Yum!

[Cool Foot Luke]

This thread makes me crave squash.  Yum!

You're not the only one!

[diablita]

 

[Cool Foot Luke]

So, I've decided just to turn this into the squash thread, as I'm getting a kick out of roasting butternut squash.

I made the winter lasagna:



Veggies: It turned out really well. I sauteed 0.61 pounds of shittake mushrooms (thanks for the suggestion!) in olive oil (and sesame oil, since I ran out of olive oil), then added lots of kale, in a mixture of green and red. I can't really quantify the kale, but it was enough to overfill my fairly large saute pan for sure. It wasn't really cooking down, so I added cheap white wine to it. and continued to cook until it evaporated.

Cheese: I mixed one pound of ricotta cheese with significantly smaller amounts of mozzarella and parmesan cheese (just enough to give it structure).

I poured a little cheap white wine in the bottom of the pan, then covered the 9 x 13 pan with a thin layer of roasted squash. For subsequent layers, I poured the wine into the roasted squash, then mixed it up. This was a BRILLIANT idea. It changed the texture of the squash so it wasn't lumpy or stringy and just became an orange squash paste, perfect for spreading on a lasagna layer. Between the kale/mushroom mix and the squash, I probably used a cup of wine, maybe less. I used the contents of one fairly large roasted butternut squash.

Then I laid lasagna noodles. Then the cheese mixture, then half the kale/mushroom mix, then half the remaining squash/wine mix, then another layer of lasagna noodles, then the rest of the cheese mixture, then the rest of the kale mushroom mix, then the remaning squash/wine mix. Topped it all off with a bit more grated mozzarella and parmesan.

If I could do it again...I would add basil, and I'd mix the squash and wine right from the get-go. I might also strategize a bit to get three layers of noodles. As it is, it's sort of a low-carb lasagna...

It's heavy and rich and delicious.

[Run Amok]

If you're open to branching out- I highly recommend delicata squash, you can also eat the skins!

I have this guy on my list to make. It calls for acorn squash but you could do it with butternut instead.

I also like to make a classic stuffing, stuff acorn squash halves and roast them. I take this as a dish to share at TG and it always gets raves.

This recipe is supah yummy. I usually roast some additional veggies with the chickpeas, including winter squash and cauliflower. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Garbanzo-Beans-and-Garlic-with-Swiss-Chard-241110

You can also cut it into cubes and make it the same way you'd make risotto.


I think butternut squash goes really nicely with sage, black beans, hazlenuts, cranberries, bitter greens, and wild rice. Not all at once... but those are things I like to include it with. Oh, it also goes nicely with flavors like chipotle, curry, an cumin (again, maybe not all at once)

[hally]

That lasagna looks yummy.

Butternut Squash Risotto is OMG so good. People told me that and I was like yeah OK so what until I tried it.

What is a field roast?

[caribougrrl]

You're not the only one!

[LilyLily]

This thread is going to make me buy and try butternut squash.

[LilyLily]

I bought butternut squash today.  How do I roast it up?

[Cool Foot Luke]

Slice off the very top and bottom and discard. Then carefully halve it lengthwise (take your time, this is tricky). Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits (there's not too much), pierce a few times with a fork, brush with a bit of oil, sprinkle the fleshy sides with salt, then place facedown on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or so, depending on the size.

[LilyLily]

That was GOOD!  I bought some Kale today and will be making quesadillas w/ the leftover squash tomorrow.  YUMMY!