Author: HungryDad

Butternut squash breakfast muffins

We had some diced butternut squash left over from the yummy butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties, so I found a recipe for muffins–make the kids eat the veggies for breakfast!

Butternut squash breakfast muffins

Adapted from Simple Daily Recipes

Dry ingredients

  • 1 c whole wheat flour
  • 1 c old fashion oats
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 c dried cranberries, rehydrated in warm water
  • 1/4 c raisins, rehydrated in warm water

Wet ingredients

  • 1 1/4 c diced raw butternut squash (or roasted if you have that)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c vegetable oil
  • 1/4 c fruit juice or water

While assembling the other ingredients cook the squash in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir it from time to time, but no need to pay much attention to it. It takes 15-20 min to cook, probably about as long as it takes to get the rest of the stuff below assembled.

Preheat the oven to 350, grease muffin tins.

Place the cranberries and raisins in a microwave safe bowl and cover with warm water.  Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute.  This is a speedy way to rehydrate the dried fruit. Drain off the water from the dried fruit.  The rehydrated fruit won’t burn when it’s exposed at the top of the baked item.

Combine the dry ingredients and the rehydrated fruit in a large bowl, mix well. Add the wet ingredients, adding the squash last, once it’s nice and soft. Stir everything together and spoon into the greased muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

 

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

These yummy pasties were fairly easy to make. I made the chopped the squash and made the dough in the morning and left it in the fridge until about 30 minutes before we were ready to make the pasties. Throwing them together in the evening didn’t take very long and then you have 40 minutes to do other stuff before dinner.

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

Adapted from TheKitchenButternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

Dough

  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 6-8 Tbs ice water (I add a bit of lemon juice)

Filling

  • 8 oz butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsb dried (or  1 Tbs fresh finely chopped)
  • 1 Tbs finely chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • egg for egg wash

To make dough

Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your hands. Start with about 5 Tbs of water and then add 1 Tbs at a time until all the flour comes together to form a nice ball. Refrigerate 30 min or longer (if you wait more than a couple of hours, let the dough warm up a bit so it can be rolled out.

To cook

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine the filling ingredients. Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll out into circles. Spoon the mixture over half of the dough circles and fold over, crimping the edges shut. Transfer to backing sheet. Cut steam vents in the pasties, paint tops with beaten egg. Bake for 40 minutes at 375.

Layered Squash, Barley and Spinach Pie

Slice of layered squash, barley adn spinach pieThis recipe looks a lot harder than it is. It’s really fairly simple and didn’t take that long to make. It was tasty too. I didn’t get quite as fancy as the original with the decorations, but it still looked nice. I don’t think it took quite as long to bake as listed, but it’s been a couple of weeks…I’m getting behind on adding recipes we’ve made.

Layered Squash, Barley and Spinach Pie

Adapted from BBC Good FoodLayered squash, barley adn spinach pie

For the filling:

  • 1 small butternut squash (about 2lb), peeled and cubed
  • 3 tbsp olive oil , plus a little extra for brushing
  • 1 onion , finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 8oz mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 cup pearl barley,
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp  soy sauce
  • zest 1 lemon
  • 8oz ricotta
  • 8oz soft cheese, I used mozzeralla
  • 1 tsp dried sage, or a few fresh leaves chopped
  • 1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1/2 cup parsley, chopped

For the pastry:

The original recipe has a crust recipe, but I used my own stand by…

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 5-6 Tbs water
  1. Heat oven to 400 F and roast the butternut squash with 1 tbsp oil for 25-30 mins until tender, then set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, 2 Tbsp oil in a large pan and cook the onions and garlic for 10 mins until soft. Remove about 2/3 of the onions. Add the mushrooms and pearl barley to the pan. Sizzle for a few mins, pour in the stock, then bring to the boil. Bubble fiercely for 30 mins until the barley is tender and sticky and there is no liquid left. Stir in the soy sauce, season and set aside.
  3. While the barley layer is cooking, make the other layers. Stir the zest, ricotta, soft cheese and a good amount of seasoning into the reserved onions until smooth. Take a third of the mixture and gently fold with the sage and roasted squash. Mix spinach into the remaining ricotta mixture with the parsley.
  4. To make the pie, brush a bread loaf tin with a little oil. Make 3 long triple layer strips of foil and lay these across the width of the tin to help you lift out the pie to serve.
  5. Roll out 2/3 of the pie dough and ease into the tin, pressing evenly into the corners and sides – you can be rough with it. Spoon in the spinach layer, smooth the surface, then repeat with the barley and finally the squash layer. Dome the squash mix slightly to give a rounded top. Roll out the remaining pastry to fit, brush the edges with some egg, then press the lid over the top. Trim the excess and crimp or pinch to seal, then decorate with pastry trimmings cut into leaves (add bay leaves, if using, when the pie has 30 mins left in the oven). Can be covered and chilled overnight.
  6. Bake for 30 mins on a backing sheet, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for another until the pastry is golden brown (30-60 minutes). Let stand for 15-20 mins. Use the foil strips to lift out carefully. Carry to the table and slice thickly to serve.