ingredients

• 1 butternut squash that's about medium or large sized in the pile of squash
• up to 1 c chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth if so inclined)
• spices to taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder, allspice, cumin
• 2 cans black beans
• optional: up to 1/4 c creamy liquid (milk, fat free half and half, whatever you have on hand, i'm not picky)

equipment

• baking pan or something with a lip that'll be large enough to hold the squash cut in half
• soup spoon
• chef's knife
• food processor
• medium-sized saucepan
• spoon to stir
• strainer

preheat oven to 400. use the knife to cut the squash in half the long way, remove seeds and the thready bits of squash guts with soup spoon. cover the bottom of the baking pan with water (you may want to spray with cooking spray first) and put squash on it cut-side up. stick in the oven for about and hour and a half to two hours, or until the squash is soft, and remove from oven to let cool.

when squash is cool to touch (about 15-30 minutes), remove from the rind- you can use the soup spoon for most of this too, it's pretty easily scooped out. stick the removed bits in the food processor along with your spices- start with about a tsp of salt and pepper, about half of each of the rest- and a quarter cup or so of the broth and the creamy liquid if you want. blend for a bit, stop, and taste and look. add more spices if you want. the consistency should be a looser puree, so add more chicken broth if you want to and blend again. repeat process until it's the flavor and consistency you want.

you can put it in a freezable container or two at this point and it'll keep pretty well for a few months or so (let cool down for up to half an hour first). if not, go ahead and decant the stuff into the saucepan over medium-low (the splatters are so not good) to heat up. drain and rinse the beans and add to pan, stir occasionally while heating. before serving check for flavor, add spices if you want to and heat a few minutes more. you don't want it boiling, but you do want it hot.

 

© the bent sun as risen