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Versatile vegetable side dish can be dressed up or down

Recipe: Baked butternut squash casserole, plain or fancy

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Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED NOV 21, 2021

Orange casserole in a white dish on oven rack
Who needs marshmallows? Butternut squash is sweet enough. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Butternut squash subs for sweet potatoes in this lighter (and potentially healthier) version of a classic fall casserole. I say “potentially” because, like sweet potato casserole, it depends on what you put on top. Loaded with a layer of toasted mini marshmallows, it’s hard to describe a casserole as “healthier.”
But that’s the beauty of this butternut dish; it doesn’t need a fancy topping to be appealing. It’s tasty plain and golden brown.
If you like pumpkin pie spice, add more than a half teaspoon, which gives just a hint of seasonal spiciness. Or use one or more of this handy spice mixture’s ingredients: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.

Baked butternut squash casserole

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
Peeled and cubed butternut squash
Butternut squash is peeled, seeded and cubed.
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
¼ cup cream
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup (½ stick) butter or margarine, melted and cooled
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or more if desired)
Instructions:
Steam squash until tender. Mash. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or grease a 2-quart casserole dish; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together cream and beaten egg.
Mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add to cream mixture.
In a large bowl, combine mashed squash with melted butter. Fold in cream-cornstarch mixture.
Season to taste with salt and pumpkin pie spice.
Pour squash mixture into prepared casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes, until top is golden brown and, when inserted, a thin-bladed knife comes out clean.
Serve warm.
Note: Add to the sweetness, texture or crunch with something extra on top. Possible toppings: Graham cracker crumbs, chopped walnuts or pecans, mini marshmallows. Sprinkle topping over casserole before baking with the exception of marshmallows. Add marshmallows in final 20 minutes of baking to avoid over-browning.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:
farm to form fall recipes fall vegetables Sacramento cooking recipe produce management winter squash butternut squash gardening casserole backyard produce Thanksgiving

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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