The 6:30 Dinner Crew

Welcome to a New Year! Let's dive into some new dishes with the help of my latest delivery. Today I received the following:

A bunch of carrots
A bunch of Collard Greens
1 Butternut Squash
A bunch of Purple Kale
A bunch of Broccoli
A bunch of Chard
A pound of Zucchini
A head of Radicchio
A bunch of Leaf Lettuce
A couple pounds of Sweet Potatoes
A red Onion
A half pound of Shallots






Many of the vegetables are easy to use in an average dinner menu but the Butternut Squash, Kale, and Collard Greens are my hardest to develop into a like-able dinner plate item for my family.

I first took on the butternut squash.What do you make with it besides a Butternut Squash Soup. Well, I turned to many cookbooks to seek my answer (or a quick search on the Internet) for recipes.




Here's what I came up with and thought would work for a tasty menu item:


Butternut Squash Gratin with Caramelized Onions
Needed in Pantry Raid:

Olive Oil
1/2 Onion
1 Small Butternut Squash
Flour
Butter
Milk
Cream Cheese
Bacon Jam - optional
Bread Crumbs
Pepper and Salt

We will break this recipe down into steps for each layer.











Step 1: Caramelize Your Thinly Sliced Onions, Season with salt and pepper.


Place into the bottom of the casserole dish.










Step 1A: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Evenly slice your butternut squash into moon wedges. Toss in the flour and shake away extra. Place batches into the same heated skillet that was used for the onions with some additional oil for browning the butternut squash. It takes a few minutes on each side.




This helps to tenderize the butternut squash to quicken the cooking time.Add on top of the caramelized onions in the casserole dish.









Step 3: Grab a few tablespoons of butter to melt in the same pan and add in any leftover flour to match the amount of butter added. This will start a rue that will eventually turn into a white cream cheese sauce. Add in a cup of milk for each Tablespoon of butter/flour ratio. (For example: 1 Tablespoon of butter, 1 Tablespoon of Flour, and 1 Cup of Milk - makes a perfect white gravy.) Add in a package of cream cheese (and a Tablespoon of bacon jam if you have it.) Stir until almost melts. Season and pour it on top of the butternut squash and caramelized onions in the casserole dish.

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Step 4: Finally sprinkle evenly over the top a thin layer of breadcrumbs. Open your oven and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes. At the very end when the butternut squash gratin is bubbling around its edges. Turn on your broiler and let the top brown up.


Step 5: Remove and let it cool.

Step 6: Did I mention make sure to let it cool?




Step 7: Serve up to your family to see what they think.

Opinions from my family: Second servings and cleared plates pointed in the direction that they enjoyed it and it turned out to be a good recipe.

This recipe helped inspire me to create a vegetarian lasagna using the butternut squash and a white sauce. See upcoming posting for the recipe.