Dig into this dish for a fork full of fall flavor! Tangy cranberries, zingy cinnamon, sweet squash, and creamy goat cheese give this dish lots of personality.
This makes a (cran)berry gourd side dish; it tastes like Thanksgiving!
Ingredients:
- 1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped
- 1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 2 to 3 tbsp honey
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced (optional, but highly recommended) ***
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped (or more or less to taste)
- cinnamon, salt, and pepper to taste
- goat cheese for garnish
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet (one that is 9 X 13 or larger works best).
- Add cubed squash to pan and spread around until the pieces are coated and oil is spread evenly around the pan.
- Roast squash at 400 degrees for about 15 mins, or until squash starts to get soft. Every few minutes, stir the squash around the pan (a wooden spoon works best) to ensure that it cooks evenly and doesn’t get stuck.
- Once squash starts to get soft, remove the pan from the oven and add the garlic and onions, spreading evenly.
- Return to oven and cook, stirring frequently, for about 7 to 10 mins, depending on how done you want the onions.
*** Onion Tip: Thinly sliced onions cook quicker and thicker sliced onions cook slower. The onions are best when they are caramelized, which means they are a translucent light brown. If they are cut too thin, they will not caramelize and will just burn and get crispy (which is also good, if you are into that). I like to cut the onions to be a bit thinner than my pinky finger. In addition, cooking times will vary. With oven-roasted things, it’s less about exact timing and more about what it looks/feels/smells like. For this recipe, once the onions have reached a translucent white color, it is fine to move onto the next step.***
- When onions are just cooked (they will be a translucent white color), remove the pan from the oven and add the cranberries, spreading evenly.
- Return to oven and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 to 13 mins, or until cranberries are softened and starting to burst. The longer you cook them, the softer and juicer the cranberries will be.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt, pepper, cinnamon and goat cheese and drizzle with honey to taste.
- Let sit for about 3 minutes to let all the flavors mesh.
- Pour yourself some cider, give thanks, dig in, and enjoy!
* This dish makes great leftovers! This is one of those dishes that is even better the day after (though maybe not as pretty), because the flavors have had time to meld together. *
Eating Always 