While at Costco this afternoon, I saw 2 pound containers of cubed butternut squash. I've never cooked with butternut squash (it's not Mr. Jansson's favorite) but I felt adventurous and purchased a container. Once home I started looking online for a good recipe...I knew I didn't want anything sweet so that narrowed down the majority of my choices.
I stumbled on
this recipe for a butternut squash with cumin couscous. It sounded pretty good but I didn't like some of the ingredients it called for and didn't have all of the others on hand. So, I revamped this to fit my taste and what was in my cupboard. The result is this:
Delicious! It's acting as a side tonight with supper but would make an excellent mid week meatless meal. Here's my version:
Ingredients:
One 2 pound container of cubed butternut squash
2 TBS olive oil
diced onion
1 heaping TBS of minced garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
One 32oz container of chicken broth
One 15oz can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup quinoa
Directions:
I started by heating 2 TBS of olive oil in a large pot. Next, I added in some onion and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then, I added in the cubed squash, garlic, cayenne, cinnamon and cumin. I gave it a good stir to coat the squash with all the spices before adding in the chicken broth garbanzo beans and salt. I let the mixture come to a boil and then lowered the heat (so the mixture was simmering) and put a lid on the pot for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I removed the lid and let the mixture continue to cook for another 10 minutes.
In a separate pot, I cooked 1 cup of quinoa according to package directions. I placed about 10 spears of fresh asparagus on a small sheet pan and drizzled them with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper before popping them into the oven to roast. After the squash mixture cooked for 10 minutes sans lid, I poured it though a colander to drain the excess liquid before dumping it on top of my prepared quinoa. I removed my asparagus from the oven (you want it to be slightly crunchy) and cut the spears into smaller pieces that I added to my quinoa mixture. Give it a good stir and serve right away! You won't be disappointed.
