Pie-Spiced Roast Butternut Squash

On my little trip to Quebec that I took on the weekend, I was served a pumpkin or squash soup that was spiced very similarly to a pumpkin pie. Hmm, I thought; why have I never done this? (I think because I was afraid it would be too sweet, too obvious.) To my surprise, I really liked it. The echo was there, but it wasn't like eating liquid pie at all, so I tried applying the same principals to my favourite roast squash. Yep, that works. A little coriander and pepper keeps the parallels from being too obvious.

4 servings
1 hour - 15 minutes prep time


Spice Mixture:
2 teaspoons coriander seed, ground
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Grind the coriander seeds and pepper. Grate the nutmeg. Mix everything listed above, and set aside.

To Roast the Squash:
1/2 of a large butternut squash (600 to 800 grams; 1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
2 or 3 tablespoons sunflower seed oil

Preheat the oven to 400°F. (Can also be done as low as 350°F, for a little longer.) Peel and deseed the squash as described in this recipe, and cut it up the same way as well. Put the oil in a large, shallow baking pan and toss the peeled slices of squash in it. Sprinkle the squash evenly with about 2/3 of the spice mixture, and toss them again. Sprinkle over the remaining spice mixture.

Bake the squash for 20 minutes. Give it a stir, then bake for a further 20 minutes (or 30 at the cooler temperature.)




Last year at this time I made Mixed Apple Pie. I don't check what I made last year until I post the days' recipe, so I'm always amused to see what kind of echos there are from last year.