Oh, wow, where did everybody go? My readership just dropped.

Note to self: Terrible puns are just that: terrible.

Second note to self: Unlike stuffing a post with bad puns, stuffing a butternut squash with Italian sausage that was cooked in a handful of fresh sage leave is an excellent idea. Really excellent.

I saw you smirk at that pun. You can't hide it. You secretly like bad puns. It's like an addiction. Go ahead, hover your mouse over the photo...

This kind of recipe appeals to me because I can both be lazy and impressive. Stuffing anything with anything automatically increases its allure. You can even make it sound exotic if you use the French term “farci”. Like this: Butternut squash farci avec a saged Italian sausage and caramelized onions. It just sounds like it must be good! Besides, caramelized anything must be a good. And verbing nouns, like making sage “saged” (or even the noun “verb” to “verbing”), make it sound much more complicated than simply adding sage to the dish.

We couldn't eat all of these in one go, so I covered one in foil and put in the fridge with some other leftovers. I think they got to talking in the fridge. Talking about puns... (hover the mouse over the image)

If the new title we developed didn’t convince you about how excellent and impressive this is, let’s go ahead and remove all doubt. Quite simply, Italian sausage and sage are excellent together. Go ahead and add caramelized onion and you have just added a touch of earthy sweetness with minimal effort. Toss in some chopped carrots to add some colorful contrast and some flavor and you are almost there. Actually, you are there. All you need to do now is pile that into cooked squash and serve it!

Butternut squash farci avec a saged Italian sausage and caramelized onions
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 medium butternut squashes
1 lb mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped (should have just about the same or slightly less carrot than onion)
1 cup rice (I use basmati)
handfull of fresh sage leaves (I had about 15 large leaves)
salt, pepper
olive oil

Directions
Prep the squash
1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise, discard the seeds and scrape out any stringy bits.
3. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and put a sage leaf in the hole. Wrap the cut-side with foil with foil and place cut-side down (foil-side down) on a baking sheet. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the squash is tender. A fork or knife inserted into the flesh should go easily into it.
Prep the filling
The filling can be made a day ahead, or while the squash is cooking. If made a day ahead, reheat over medium to medium-low heat in a pot, stirring occasionally until warm.
1. Prepare 1 cup of dry rice according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot over medium heat add 2 tsps olive oil. Then add the onion. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Add the carrots. Cook for 10 minutes more. Stir occasionally.
4. Add the sausage and sage. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, breaking apart any chunks of sausage with a wooden spoon. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the meat is cooked, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the cooked rice to the sausage mixture and stir to combine everything.
Stuff it!
1. Once the squash is cooked, remove the foil and… um.. stuff it. I’m not sure much explanation needs to occur, but here goes… Scoop the rice and sausage mixture into the holes of each squash.
2. Uh… eat… I guess. I didn’t really plan on needing a number 2, but I didn’t want 1 to get lonely.

I considered putting some almond slivers or some pistachios in the mix as well. While I still think it was a good idea, I don't think it would have been smart to use just those because... (hover over the photo for the punchline)

You may have left over stuffing ingredients. These are quite good on their own. I ate my leftover extra stuffing as a lunch the next day at work. It was a bit easier than trying to take a half squash :)

Winter squash and sweet potato baked goodness

It’s light, but surprisingly filling and very seasonal. There is also a great earthy sweetness to it that comes from combining butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and caramelized onions. It’s meat-free too. If you are the ovo-lacto vegetarian type, you are in the clear. Eggs, cheese, and a bit of cream bind the dish together as it bakes.

You'll want to go back for seconds.

If you are in the mood for an easy to make casserole that tastes like winter should, give this a try. I heartily recommend it.

Butternut squash and sweet potato casserole
Makes about 4 main course servings.
Ingredients
1/2 lb butternut squash, cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 lb sweet potato, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 large onion, roughly chopped or cut into circles
2 eggs
3/4 cup cream
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
pinch of nutmeg
3 oz gruyere cheese, shredded
salt, pepper, olive oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat add 2 teaspoons olive oil. Then add the onion and sautee for 3-5 minutes, until it becomes soft and slightly translucent. Add the paprika, thyme, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Add the squash and sweet potato. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The squash and sweet potato will still be firm.
4. Meanwhile, beat the cream, eggs, and nutmeg together in a mixing bowl. Mix in about a third of the cheese.
5. Add the hot squash to a 2-quart baking dish and pour the cream and cheese mixture over it. Mix or rearrange the vegetables so it is a relatively even layer. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes. After 40 minutes, if the cheese has not browned, turn on the broiler and broil until the surface becomes nicely golden. As always, be careful using the broiler as it can go from golden to brown to black quickly :)

If this isn't a good reason to buy squash, I don't know what is.

Driven both by laziness and opportunity, I stripped the ingredients to the bare minimum. All that is really needed is butternut squash. Everything else is basically optional.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo

Well, almost optional. The inclusion of the chorizo adds a wonderful spicy meatiness that I wouldn’t give up. The wealth of ingredients that make up the chorizo (at least, compared to the soup) provide a great contrast and the strong, meaty flavor compliments the soup nicely.

If you are curious about winter squashes, you can head to my post about types of squash and proper preparation and storage. The more you know!

The recipe also calls for cream, but this can be reduced or eliminated. I’ve had this soup both with and without this addition. The cream contributes a luxurious smooth finish and gives it a richer flavor. Even without the cream, the butternut squash soup is still thick and rich but it feels like a much more elegant meal with it added. Either way you chose, I feel like I have to say again not to skip out on the chorizo.

Ingredients
2 small-to-medium butternut squashes
4 to 5 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, or water)
3/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Chorizo (enough to give 3-6 slices per person)
pepper, salt
olive oil

Directions
1. Peel and cut the squash into about 1-inch chunks. Add these to a large pot and fill with just enough of stock or water to cover the squash (add about a tsp of salt if using water instead of stock). Heat on medium high until it starts to boil, then reduce to a simmer for 12-15 minutes. Check for doneness by pressing a chuck of squash against the side or bottom of the pan. If it doesn’t resist much before smushing, it’s ready.
2. All the soup to cook slightly and then blend until smooth.
3. If using cream, stir it in now. Return the soup to the heat to keep warm. Once the cream is added, do not allow it to boil.
4. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the chorizo for 1-3 minutes. There may be a lot of oil that renders from the chorizo, this can be poured out. Once cooked, blot the sausage with paper towel to remove excess grease.
5. Serve the soup in bowl with a few rounds of sausage placed onto the top of the soup. If desired, crack some black pepper over the top and trace a line of olive oil.

Make ahead tip: Prepare the soup up to the end of step 2. The soup can be refrigerated or frozen until needed. Reheat over med-low heat on the stove and continue with the remainder of the instructions.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Cold weather is upon us. Pumpkins and other winter squash are everywhere (well, less now that Halloween is over). Perfect time to make a nice, hot soup. You can use pumpkin or other winter squashes in this dish. I don’t really like to cook with pumpkin. I like other winter squashes, but pumpkin–not so much. I don’t know if this is because most pumpkins are grown for carving instead of taste, but as for other winter squashes, butternut is probably my favorite. The tough skin and hard flesh may put some people off working with it–but as with anything, the key is breaking it into smaller pieces. Take a look at some instructions from The Kitchn if you are having some trouble.

This soup is nice and creamy with a mild sweetness to it. I plan on making a more basic soup later this year, but I wanted something richer for this soup. The sweetness comes from adding an equal proportion of apples to squash to the soup. Apples are not the most common ingredient in soup, but they are delicious.

Go through the jump to see the recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients
3 Tablespoons butter (unsalted)
1 pound squash (about 1-2 inch cubes, it’ll all be blended later, so consistency of size is less important)
1 pound apples (about 1-2 inch cubes, it’ll all be blended later, so consistency of size is less important)
1 large onion, rough chop
4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup vermouth (or dry white wine)
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the squash, apples and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is soft, about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth and vermouth, boost the heat to med-high to bring to a boil. Once boiling, partially cover and reduce the heat to low – med-low (enough to maintain a simmer). Cook for 30 minutes. The squash should be soft and erm, ’squash’ easily when pressed against the side of the pot. Remove from heat.
3. If you have a stick blender, you don’t have to wait for it to cool before blending. If you have a regular blender, add the soup in batches and puree until smooth.
4. When ready to serve, reheat over med-low – med heat (do not let boil). Add the cream and cook one minute more. Serve.

Note: Any spices/herbs should be added in step two. If making a large batch to freeze or to keep a few days, you can just add the cream when you re-heat the soup to serve.