Butternut Squash day 1

I love butternut squash, but just about every recipe on the internet or in print calls for sweet seasonings: honey, cinnamon, sugar, maple syrup, etc. It tastes good that way, but I prefer savory butternut squash. It's great just wiped with olive oil then salt and peppered, but last night I wanted a little more flavor, so I got out my mortar and pestle (because any I'll take any excuse to use it) and ground up a seasoning mix. I used 1 t. cardamom, 1 t. cumin, 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. tumeric, a dash of ground red pepper and several black peppercorns.



I then, using my best knife, carefully cut the squash in half. There's no problem in cutting it into strips or chunks, but I think it looks neat to roast it in two halves. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, melted 1 T butter and mixed it with 1 T olive oil and rubbed it all over the squash. I then sprinked the spices on and baked for 50-55 mintues.



I'm still not used to photographing everything I do, so I forgot to take a picture as soon as I pulled it from the oven. The second picture there is after I cut the bulb part off and filled it with couscous and some of that rotisserie chicken, which I spiced with some of that spice mix.




The big holes in the bulby part of the squash contain seeds and pulp, just like a pumpkin, so I gathered the seeds, throughly rinsed them in a colander, dried them with a paper towel, and tossed them with 1 t. olive oil and 1/2 t. of that same spice mix. I baked at 275 degrees for 60 minutes, stirring/shaking the pan every 15 minutes. These are super delicious and crispy and hard to stop eating!




And I've still got half a squash (and 1/3 of that rotisserie chicken meat) to use!