Below is an unbelievable recipe for butternut squash! I found this recipe in the awesome "Jerusalem " cookbook and of course I tweaked it. It calls for a large butternut squash. Thankfully in my grocery store, Ralph's (which is owned by Kroger by the way.) and Trader Jos, butternut squash can be found in the produce section. Warning: Don't get the frozen kind because they turn out way tooo soggy!
A lot of the items I suggest are hard to find, so either you should look, look and look some more or ask for help. You can always cut up a raw butternut squash, but you won't get that here. (I'm way too lazy for that.) Here's what you'll need:
Approx. 1 & 1/2 lbs. of cubed butternut squash (If some of the pieces are bigger than the others, you will want to cut them in half.)
1 very large red onion (Red onions are nice and sweet.)
3 Tablespoons of pine nuts
3 Tablespoons of tahini (A paste made with made with sesame seeds) Trader Joe's makes the best. (Simple Truth makes the worst!) A tahini called Jova is fine.
Preheat the oven to 475. Cut the onions into wedges. Toss the onions and squash in bit of olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread vegetables out onto the sheet. Cook about 30 minutes until you can put a fork through them with a bit of effort. You don't want the squash to be mushy, so its better to err on the side of being undercooked. (You can always put it in the oven for longer.) In the last 5 min. put the pine nuts in a corner of the cookie sheet. (Browning pine nuts is not essential. I've started using uncooked pine nuts because I always burn them.)
In a small bowl vigorously stir the tahini with a dash of salt, and about 2 tablespoons of water. (I like to use a small whisk or better yet one beater from my hand mixer.) The paste should be the consistency of honey so add more water or tahini if necessary.
To serve, spread the vegetables out on a serving platter and drizzle with tahini then the pine nuts. Voila you have a totally delicious side dish!
