Butternut Squash
It's fall, y'all.
I'm looking forward to the persimmons and broccoli, and eventually grapefruit omnomnomnom. But typically, the autumn season is heralded in by squash. And squash we will have, I say.
Butternut squash, to be specific.
I first tried BNS (we don't have much of that sorta thing in Hong Kong) out of curiosity, and ended up with a large batch of BNS soup that lasted ages and wasn't particularly good... That, plus the fact that it's finicky to cut when whole, put me off them.
The world of squashes is wonderful and varied. Walking through Union Square Greenmarket this time of year, you'll be greeted by them in all manner of colours and shapes matched only by their fanciful names (Fairytale, Delicata, and a personal fave, Warty Pear). They serve different functions too.
So apparently the Waltham Butternut Squash is the eponymous creation of the town in Massachusetts.
The Cucurbita genus, housing many different cultivars, is native to North America. In fact, they were part of the Three Sisters of companion crops used by Native Americans. The other two were corn and beans, and they were domesticated in that order, resulting in this agricultural process after thousands of years.
What's companion planting? This is a catch-all term for any type of agriculture/gardening where compatible plants are grown together. They can be good for each other in terms of pest control (chamomile attract aphids, and are planted near apple trees to protect their fruit), beneficial growing (broccoli and lettuce), and mineral replenishment (legumes and leafy greens).
With regards to the Three Sisters, the corn/maize provides the climbing bean stalks with support, the beans supplement the soil with nitrogen (via its symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing Rhizobia), and the ground-laying squash limit weed growth and hold in soil moisture. I doubt that this method is used in commercial production, but some small-scale farms still operate this way.
Squash then made its far-flung journey via the Portuguese in the 17th century. This resulted in the Kabocha squash, or カボチャ, or 南瓜. This recipe originally called for Kabocha, but I had Butternut on hand and the substitution worked here. I also added a dash of turmeric for colour and aroma, but feel free to leave it out! Make sure you keep an eye on the milk so it doesn't foam up and spill all over the place. The milk will curdle and coat the squash, resulting in a consistency not unlike potato salad and a warm buttery taste.
Based off Emiko's version, which was based off Cookpad's version (in Japanese)
1 pound butternut squash, skinned and de-seeded (see above note)
180 ml whole milk (please, don't use skim)
1 tbsp soy sauce (or a splash, according to taste)
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
Chop the squash into 1-inch cubes. Combine with the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan, making sure most of the squash cubes are submerged/half-submerged in the milk. Bring to a boil under a lid, then keep it on a gentle simmer for about 15 min, stirring to make sure the squash doesn't burn. When the squash is soft but not mushy, take off the heat.
This is perfect topped with sesame seeds, and as a side-dish to faro and some fish. Get dat vitamin A.
Let me know if you enjoyed this post and/or made this!
Squash-inspo:
A veggie lasagna
Mmmm more carbs 💓
Round 2 of soup?
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