Recipe Request aka Thanks for the Topic!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

In the comments for the previous post, recipes were requested for Vanilla-Brown Sugar Squash and Thymely Roasted Sweet Potatoes.  Well, I must warn you, dear requestor, that the lovely names might have deceived you a tish... these are both totally made-up by me/aka mental recipes.

But, not one to disappoint my readers/commentors (maybe particially because they are are rare & also precious!), here you go:

Vanilla-Brown Sugar Squash

Cook a butternut squash.  For me, that means halve a butternut squash and scoop out the seeds. Put both halves cut-side down in a 9x13" pan with about 1/2 inch of water and cook for an hour, or until soft.  Scoop the flesh out of the skin and discard the skin.  (You can totally do this ahead of time or, as in the case of this Turkey Day feast, use leftover squash.)  Mash/mix the squash with butter.  LOTS of butter, and a fair amount of brown sugar and a decent splash of vanilla.  Mash until you deem the texture suitable, adding more butter as needed. (Julia Child note: more butter is good!). I made ours early with leftover squash & kept it warm in a minicrockpot, which worked very well.

Thymely Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes

Peel two giant-sized, 3 regular, or 4 smallish sweet potatoes. Cut into 1/4" to 1/2" dice.  This should  be about enough to cover a 9x13"pan at pretty much a single layer.  Pour on some olive oil and sprinkle on some (fresh, preferably, but dried is fine) thyme & some (preferably coarse-grained/kosher) salt.  Bake at 350F (very adaptable to more/less heat), stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are soft & have acquired at least one roasted/caramelized/not-quite-burnt-but-really-brown side.

There you go! I thought it was a nice way to take two rather similar (orange/yellow vegetables) dishes and give them quite different flavors/spins.  Enjoy!