October 5, 2020

Sautéed Butternut Squash and Kale

Name: Sautéed Butternut Squash and Kale
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 butternut squash (about 3 pounds), peeled, seeded and cubed; 1 small white onion, roughly chopped; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1-1/2 cups chopped kale, stems removed; 1 teaspoon chopped parsley

With less than 10 ingredients, this sautéed butternut squash and kale makes a simple and tasty fall side flavored with garlic and dried thyme.

Picking up our weekly fruit and vegetable box is my current favorite chore on my to-do list.

I even added it as a reoccurring appointment on my calendar, so nothing else gets in the way.

All for a 10 minute block of time!

On Wednesdays when my six-year-old and I have finished home-school, remote learning or whatever we’re calling it these days, we take a short walk in our neighborhood to get the box.

It’s always the well-timed break we need from Zoom classes and my attempts to be the cheerleader encouraging him to practice cursive and math facts.

The farm has multiple drop-off locations in the city. Ours happens to be a coffee shop.

Each week the box has gotten heavier with lots of apples and the start of root veggie season.

My son always offers to carry it at some point on our journey.

I let him try to lift it, and we both talk about how much must be inside because it weighs a ton.

Last week when we got home and opened the box to see what was inside, we discovered a huge butternut squash.

It wasn’t the apples that were making it tough to carry.

I hadn’t made anything with butternut squash since the end of last winter, so I needed to get reacquainted with this ubiquitous fall, cold-weather vegetable.

There are So Many Ways to Cook Squash!

In the past I’ve kept it simple roasting cubed squash on a sheet pan and tossing it in everything bagel seasoning. You can’t go wrong with Everything on everything.

I’ve also used butternut squash in a no-stir oven-baked barley risotto.

This time I stayed on the stovetop making sauteed butternut squash and kale.

And I figured out a way to repurpose the leftovers.

How To Make Sautéed Butternut Squash and Kale

Once I had the butternut squash peeled and cubed, I heated olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

As the squash sauteed, I stirred it around the pan pretty frequently.

After about 12 minutes, it was nearly cooked through. At that point, I added roughly chopped onions.

In most recipes, you start with the onions in the skillet, but because the squash takes more time to cook, you have to wait to add the ingredients that cook more quickly.

When the onions were soft and translucent, I added minced garlic, dried thyme, salt and pepper.

It took less than a minute for the skillet to get fragrant. Then I folded in chopped kale letting it wilt.

Finally, I sprinkled on chopped fresh parsley.

What To Do With Leftovers

I ended up with leftovers of sauteed butternut squash and kale, so I reheated it in a skillet.

Toward the end of warming it up, I added an egg to make a veggie scramble hash.

It was a bit messy on the plate, but in the best possible way.