Ciaohaus Roasted Butternut Squash

This recipe is a selection from the Ciaohaus Cookbook. Read more about the Ciaohaus Cookbook project on our blog.

Watch Angela Enos & Brian Grey make tasty, simple, butternut squash with their New West KnifeWorks knives.

 

Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe

Preheat your oven to 415 degrees.

The challenge of this recipe is that squash does not particularly want you to eat it and will defend itself at every opportunity. Beware the raw squash peel, it emits a sap that will dry out your hands until you feel like your skin has shrunk. You can be fancy and wear gloves to avoid this or just swaddle the squash in a dish towel and wash your hands often while preparing it. 

Cut the squash in half longways with a very sharp knife, so you have two mandolin-shaped pieces. This should be reasonably difficult and somewhat dangerous, so take care. 

Once halved, scoop out the seeds with a spoon. 

Using a small knife, remove the peel from both squash halves. 

In a shallow baking dish, drizzle enough oil to coat the bottom of the dish and nestle your squash in with the flat sides facing up. Drizzle more oil over the top, enough for the spices to stick. Add half your spices and don't be afraid to sprinkle your favorites more generously than we've instructed. Flip the squash with the cut side facing down, drizzle more oil & coat with the remainder of your spices. 

If your cashews are whole, chop them coarsely and dump the whole lot of them in the baking dish on top of, around and snuggled up with your squash. Add more oil if desired, there should be a shallow but visible amount in the bottom of the dish. Place the dish lovingly in the oven for about 45 minutes. Flip the squash halves with great care, as they'll be extremely hot and sitting in boiling oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir the cashews and spoon some into the hollow where the seeds used to be. Put back in the oven for 30 minutes until the cashews are well browned and the squash smells like an angel farted. 

Let cool for around 10 minutes after removing from the oven, you'll want to cut the squash as soon as the oil stops boiling. Carefully cube the squash into bite size pieces and then stir the cubes, cashews, oil and spices together in the baking dish to stew while they cool.

You can serve this dish immediately or cook it for meal prep, it keeps beautifully and pairs well with rice, protein, and other roasted vegetables. 

 

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash 

• 4 tbs olive oil or similar 

• 1 cup raw cashews 

• coarse salt

• ½ tsp black pepper 

• 1 tbs sumac

• 1 tbs paprika 

• 1 tsp coriander

• 1 tsp cinnamon 

• ½ tsp cumin 

• ¼ tsp berbere spice or chili powder