Butternut Squash Roasted with Shallots & Cranberries

Nothing fussy about this; it's about as quick and easy as roasting squash ever gets. I'd say this is an ideal dish to serve with any poultry or pork; less ideal with beef or lamb but still good. A simple green vegetable will finish the menu.

 I am still trying to figure out how squash fit into a lower blood sugar diet. They are quite high in carbohydrates for a vegetable, and in fact contain sugars. On the other hand they rate quite low on the glycemic index and load, and some sources indicate they have blood-sugar lowering properties. On the other hand I can find references to people eating squash and having their blood sugar go up... it's a puzzle. Right now I am eating them because we have a laundry room shelf full of squash, but I will need to check my blood sugar levels over the winter as I eat them, and think about whether and how many we should plant next year. And I put honey in them too, because cranberries. However, in spite of all the potential pitfalls this is a dish for special fall and early winter occasions, and will not get eaten often.

If I wanted to make this more of a main dish, I would sprinkle some cubes of feta cheese over it for the last 10 or 15 minutes of baking.

4 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 15 minutes prep time

1.4 kilogram (3 pounds) butternut squash
6 to 8 shallots
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Peel the squash, and remove the seeds and any stringy bits from the seed cavity. Cut it into 1 centimetre slices, and then into bite-sized pieces. Peel and quarter the shallots.

Put the squash and shallots into a shallow 9" x 13" baking (lasagne) pan. Add the cranberries, washed and picked over. Drizzle the honey and vegetable oil over the squash, etc, and mix gently. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes until the squash is tender. Stir gently halfway through the baking time. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Squash Poached in Maple Syrup.

Posted in: Ontario Food