There have been years that I loaded up on sides so much that there was no room on my plate for the Thanksgiving turkey. You can give me corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce and call it a meal.
But variety is good, too. I’ve had green bean casserole, rice, mac and cheese … none of which they would have had at the first Thanksgiving.
According to historians, what they would have had is squash, probably cooked just about exactly like this.
Ingredients
1 squash (any kind)
butter
salt
brown sugar (optional)
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. Cut the squash in half. Go from bottom to top, as some of them have a really hard stem you won’t be able to cut through.
Scoop out all the seeds and connecting membrane with a spoon.
Place the pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet (just to make cleanup easier). Salt lightly, then add a few tablespoons of butter to each half.
Bake until the flesh is soft enough that a fork goes all the way through the thickest part to the skin with little resistance. For this one, that took about 35 minutes.
If you like it sweet (and, obviously, if you’re not on a low-carb diet) toss a tablespoon or more of brown sugar in the melted butter.
Serve with a big hunk of roasted meat.
And that’s it.
Ingredients
- 1 squash (any kind)
- butter
- salt
- brown sugar (optional)
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. Cut the squash in half. Scoop out all the seeds and connecting membrane with a spoon.
Place the pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet (just to make cleanup easier). Salt lightly, then add a few tablespoons of butter to each half.
Bake until the flesh is soft enough that a fork goes all the way through the thickest part to the skin with little resistance, about five minutes.
If you like it sweet, toss a tablespoon or more of brown sugar in the melted butter.
Serve with a big hunk of roasted meat.
