Have You Misplaced Fights to Butternut Squashes? This is How you can Reduce Them So That By no means Occurs Once more

For some, the beginning of soccer and hockey season marks the transition from summer time to fall. For me, it is the butternut squash I’ve taken house from the market. Of all of the winter squashes, butternut is without doubt one of the most typical and in addition probably the most versatile. It is agency sufficient to carry its form in some dishes, but purées superbly in others. It has sufficient sweetness and taste to be very interesting, however not a lot that it tastes like dessert.

I had some enjoyable enjoying with butternut squash for the stress cooker risotto recipe I developed just lately, however reducing it up into all completely different sizes jogged my memory that its firmness and odd form could make it a tougher vegetable to arrange than many others.

Procuring and Storage

As a result of they’re onerous to the contact and lined in a thick, sturdy pores and skin, the artwork of gauging the ripeness of a butternut squash comes right down to some refined clues. First, you wish to choose squash which are freed from any punctures or floor wounds, since a compromised pores and skin can result in rotten spots fairly shortly. Past that, search for squash that really feel heavy for his or her dimension, and keep away from any which have a greenish solid to their beige pores and skin.

I’ve by no means put squash to the kinds of checks I subjected tomatoes to over the summer time, however I’ve all the time discovered that they do very effectively at room temperature, which can also be how I normally discover them saved at supermarkets. You may thank that thick pores and skin—it is liable for their shelf stability by offering an extremely efficient protecting layer that traps in moisture and retains out microorganisms.

At root-cellar temperatures (round 55°F/13°C or so), butternut squash can hold for a number of months. In heated houses, you are protected holding them at room temperature for a lot of days and presumably weeks, although I can not consider an excellent cause to search out out simply what number of weeks a squash will maintain up in your counter earlier than it begins to interrupt down—eat it, that is why it is there.

Once you’re able to cook dinner a butternut, simply give it a rinse to scrub off any floor filth, and also you’re all set.

Butternut Butchery: How you can Reduce Up a Butternut Squash

The Proper Knife

Step one is ensuring you will have the precise instruments. As with most cooking duties, the principle factor that makes reducing up butternut squash tough will not be having an excellent knife out there. Due to the squash’s firmness and thick pores and skin, I’ve all the time discovered that smaller, lighter-weight knives make the job tougher. As a substitute, I attain for a knife that is not simply sharp, but in addition has some weight to it—that heft will do a number of the work for me.

A (roughly) 10-inch chef’s knife, just like the one right here, will do the trick.

If there is not a hefty knife round, the subsequent one I will seize is a serrated knife: These enamel on the blade will make up for no matter mass the knife itself lacks. As Kenji has identified in his personal writings on knives, a serrated (a.okay.a. bread) knife needn’t be an costly buy. They are not simple to sharpen, so you will have to exchange them on occasion.

As I will present under, I usually peel my squash with no matter knife I am utilizing, however a peeler will be helpful, too. And once I use a peeler, I am actually solely thinking about one type: a razor-sharp Y-peeler. If you happen to’re not used to utilizing one, it may well appear awkward and tough at first, however with just a little observe, I doubt you will return to the opposite type. I do not suppose I’ve ever seen an expert chef use something however considered one of these.

You may additionally want a spoon for eradicating the seeds.

Reduce Off the Stem Finish

The very first thing I do is lower proper under the stem of the squash to take away it.

Reduce Off the Blossom Finish

Subsequent, I rotate the squash and slice off the very backside of the opposite, extra bulbous finish, the place the flower as soon as grew on the fruit (it isn’t anatomically correct, however let’s name it the stomach button). I attempt to not lower off an excessive amount of right here, erring on the facet of not fairly getting sufficient of that stomach button on my first go—if I must take extra off, I can all the time lower once more. As soon as I’ve totally eliminated that backside stomach button, I am good to go.

Divide in Half Widthwise

Butternut squash has two sections: The highest part on the stem-end facet is narrower and stuffed with strong flesh. The extra bulbous part on the flower finish (the place that stomach button was) is hole and incorporates the seeds.

I line the knife up proper the place the slender part meets the bulbous part and cut up the squash in half there.

It is best to now have two sections of squash: the highest portion and the bulbous seed part.

Peel

When you’ve got a peeler, go forward and strip the pores and skin off with it. You wish to peel right down to the orange flesh, reducing away any white or light-colored flesh instantly under the pores and skin, in addition to any inexperienced veins that run lengthwise beneath the pores and skin.

If you happen to’re not utilizing a peeler, set every part of squash on a flat finish and slice round it, with both a pointy knife or a serrated blade (my pictures right here present each) to take away the pores and skin.

Additionally, can we cease and recognize my freakishly double-jointed thumb within the picture above?

Repeat the peeling for each the highest part and the bulbous seed part of the squash.

Cut up the Seed Part

Subsequent, I stand the seed part on a flat facet and slice it in half lengthwise.

Take away the Seeds

Utilizing a spoon, I scrape out the seeds and any of the fibrous flesh that is connected to them.

If you happen to prefer to eat pumpkin seeds, do not throw these away: They are often toasted and loved as a snack. (I am not so loopy about pumpkin seeds, so I normally toss ’em.)

Slice and Cube the Seed Part

I take every hollowed seed part half, set it hole facet down on the reducing board, and slice it lengthwise into sections. You may go as skinny or as thick as you need right here—that may decide the scale of your items. You may cook dinner these curved slices as they’re, or cube them.

To cube them, simply lower every slice into chunks of your required dimension. As a result of these curved items of squash usually are not completely common in form, you will not get good cubes right here, however that is okay. Nature does not develop too many issues with flawless proper angles.

Slice and Cube the Prime Part

If the highest part of the squash is especially lengthy, I will cut up it in half widthwise to make it extra manageable.

Then I stand it on finish and slice down in even intervals to kind slabs. Right here, I am doing a roughly three-quarter-inch cube, so that is the width of every of my slabs. You may go thicker or thinner, relying in your particular want.

As soon as I’ve lower it into slabs, I cross-cut these slabs into batons.

Then I rotate these batons and lower them into cube.

Alternate Reduce: Circles

The highest part of the squash can be sliced into rounds.

To take action, I flip it on its facet and slice by it widthwise.

Once more, you possibly can go as thick or as skinny as you need right here.

Take Two: Small Cube

If you’d like smaller cube, all you want to do is make thinner cuts on each the seed finish and the stem finish. Right here, I am demonstrating on the stem finish.

Begin with the stem part of the squash on its finish, and lower down by it lengthwise, making your slices a lot nearer collectively.

Then slice these thinner slabs into a lot thinner matchsticks.

And cross-cut these matchsticks into tiny cubes. These are roughly an eighth of an inch. Aren’t they cute?

October 2014