Tonight's Dinner! Um...Well it doesn't really have a name, maybe Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce?
This was my first time trying this, and it was simple, and sooo yummy. (Also I know the picture does not look all that nice. It looked nicer before I mixed the sauce in, but I forgot to take a picture before that.)
Peel and remove the seeds from a/many butternut squash(es). (I would say that one squash probably serves about 2 if you really like sauce, three for lighter sauce eaters). For peeling them I just use a normal peeler, and keep peeling until it is mostly darker orange and the lighter orange stuff is all gone. For cutting a butternut squash in the first place, you want to use the strongest knife that you have, or a cleaver if you have one. If all you have are crappy knives, it is probably going to take quite some effort to cut it, so you will probably want to peel it first.
Once it is peeled and seeded, just cut it into cubes (about 1-2"). Put your cubes in boiling water, and boil it for 8-10 minutes. Stick a fork in and when it feels like it is really tender, that's the time its done. If you can't really tell, just make sure it is boiling for a full 10 minutes, and it should be done. Drain the water. Put the squash back in the pan. Put in ~2Tb butter for each squash you used. Then depending on how much garlic you like, add garlic. I highly recommend fresh garlic (tutorial on cutting it to follow), but if all you have is dehydrated, that's fine. The stuff you buy in the bottles for the fridge is good too. If you are not a big garlic person, I'd do maybe 1 clove for each squash, or 1/2 tsp dehydrated. If you like garlic, well just add it in to how much you like. Return the pan to the stove and put it on medium heat. Stir it with a fork (or whisk if you have one) and just keep kinda mashing the squash, and mixing it, until all the butter is melted. Add salt as desired. If you have some parmesean cheese, throw some of that in.
Serve on spaghetti (vermicelli, angel hair, whatever kind of stringy pasta you like). It is yummy.
Variations:
-Add 1 tsp. of sage to the sauce for each squash
-Add 1/4 c. of ricotta cheese for each squash
-Chop up some fresh basil and use as a garnish
Garlic Tutorial
Ok, so when you buy fresh garlic, what you are buying is a bulb of garlic. (I used to wonder if each of those things was what was a clove - it is NOT). In a bulb of garlic there are many many cloves. When you want to use some, start pulling off the white skin outside, until you come to a little bumpy part that comes off with it. That little thing is what the clove is. There will be a pointy end. and a flatter end. Cut off maybe 2-3mm of the flat end. You will see the skin of the clove. Pull that off. You have a clove.
To use it, first smash it with the side of your knife, and then just cut it until it is in really small pieces (mincing). And that is how you use garlic!
So...any questions about tonight's episode of: TSC learns to cook?
