The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (25 page)

Stephan Guyenet of WholeHealthSource.blogspot.com shared his simple preparation for winter squash.

Winter squash keeps well on a counter without refrigeration, so it’s an easy vegetable to keep around for use after the spoils of summer are a distant memory. It’s easy to imagine Grok, our prototypical hunter-gatherer ancestor, or his mate finding a cache of wild squashes and roasting them in the hot coals of their fire.

Winter squash can be stored for weeks on your kitchen counter or for months in a cool basement. There are countless varieties of winter squash. Some to look for are acorn, ambercup, buttercup, butternut, kabocha, spaghetti, delicata and banana.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Steam or bake the squash.

To steam, peel squash with a sturdy vegetable peeler or a paring knife. Cut in half and scoop out seeds. Cut flesh into large, even chunks and steam until easily pierced through with a fork, about 15–20 minutes.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the squash in half. Remove the seeds by scooping them out with a spoon (save them if you enjoy roasted squash seeds). Place the two halves face down in a baking dish or sheet pan with a lip around the edge to catch liquids. Bake the squash until the flesh is uniformly soft, roughly one hour. While still hot, scoop the squash flesh out of the skin (if not already peeled) and coarsely mash it with the sage, butter and salt.

Even people who claim to hate Brussels sprouts often like this recipe. That’s probably because too often Brussels sprouts are boiled and overcooked, creating a strong sulfurous odor and unpleasant mushy texture. Roasting avoids these overcooking pitfalls; the aromatic browned butter and hazelnuts also bring out the nutty best in this cruciferous cousin to broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Just be sure to watch the butter closely while it browns; it quickly turns from brown to burnt.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 450°F.

Place butter on a rimmed baking pan that is large enough for the Brussels sprouts to roast in a single layer or else they will steam instead of roasting if too crowded. Roast until the butter is melted, browned and fragrant, 4 to 6 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven; toss Brussels sprouts and hazelnuts with the browned butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Return to the oven and roast for 7 minutes. Remove briefly and sprinkle with water; toss, then continue roasting until the sprouts are tender and lightly browned, about 7 to 9 minutes more.

Serve immediately. Goes especially well with roast meat or roast fowl.