Butternut and Boursin Shells

IT IS FALL.

THAT MEANS SQUASH.

So in this episode of "Marg Meets a New Squash," I decided on butternut. I have never worked with or eaten butternut squash, so there was no time like the present. As long as the present is, you know, fall.

Just from cutting it, I could tell that it was going to be sweet. Are all squashes sweet? I worked with acorn squash a couple weeks ago and that was pretty dang sweet as well. Acorn squash definitely didn't smell sweet though. I mean, it didn't smell bad or anything, but when I was cutting/grating the butternut squash, it smelled almost like a melon, which is pretty dang sweet.

I used a Martha Stewart recipe, because Martha Stewart is the go-to for all new recipes/ingredients with which you are unfamiliar in my opinion. The woman is a genius/goddess/supreme leader/someone I admire. Her recipes are tried and true and the flavor complexity she accomplishes is astounding. I know I'm talking about Martha Stewart like Alex Trebek talks about his wife ("My beautiful wife Jean..."), but I just like to give credit where credit is due. And man does she deserve a ton of credit.

I pretty much followed her recipe, except I changed the arugula to spinach because I absolutely despise arugula, and I use spinach in basically all of my cooking (omelets, smoothies, salads, etc.), so it made more sense for me to buy spinach rather than arugula. I also seasoned the cubed butternut squash with crushed red pepper in addition to salt and pepper before placing it in the oven. Like I said before, it smelled super sweet, and I thought adding a hint of spice would be appreciated to the overall flavor. I also added some chicken because I was hungry and thought I could either eat all 4 servings in one sitting or I could add some protein so I wouldn't be ravenous after one serving. I think I made the right call, as I still have leftovers in my fridge, and you know what that means! Lunches/dinners for the rest of the week are already prepped!

I've attached her ingredients and directions in case you didn't feel like cooking on the link.

I really liked this recipe. The toughest part was grating the butternut squash. I don't know if I have a terrible grater or my squash wasn't ripe enough or what, but man I worked my arm off getting that thing grated. In the future, I might cheat and just use the potato peeler, since the grated shape/texture isn't instrumental to the dish - it ends up all being blended up anyway!

The only real things I had to buy for this recipe were the squash, Boursin, hazelnuts, and spinach, which makes it a pretty easy recipe to be able to throw together if you don't know what you can make for dinner. I recommend finding a grocery store that sells in bulk, so you can buy just as many hazelnuts as you actually need for the recipe, unless you're someone who uses hazelnuts like I use spinach ("you get spinach! you get spinach! you get spinach!").

Since this was my first experience with butternut squash, I have to say I liked the flavor a lot. It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting from the smell, but it had an almost delicately refreshing flavor that was both comforting as well as satisfying. In addition to the flavor, I absolutely loved the color. I could see how it would be fun to mix into a cheese sauce to hide some veggies, or maybe even just hide with some shredded cheddar for tacos and/or baked potato toppings. I'll have to mess around with it some more.