Name: Roasted, Mashed Butternut Squash
Yield: Makes 2 to 3 cups mashed squash
Ingredients: 1 medium butternut squash, 3 to 4 pounds, or other similar winter squash; Olive oil; Salt

Photo showing two halves of a roasted butternut squash before mashing from Lukas Volger's Start Simple cookbook.

Photo by Cara Howe

This is my favorite way to cook most types of winter squash—halved through the stem, first roasting flat-side down, which initiates the cooking by steaming, and then flipping it over so the excess liquid cooks off. Then, by coarsely mashing, seasoning, and storing the squash to use later in the week, you've got an ingredient that'll yield more types of dishes than would be easily available to you if you were to have cubed and roasted leftover squash. It's a spread, a sandwich filling, sweet component of a frittata, the starting point of an easy appetizer.

Recipe notes

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