Maple Roasted Butternut Squash w. Pancetta
Equipment
- 2 large cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 3 lbs butternut squash peeled & chopped into ¼-1/2 inch cubes
- 3 tbs olive oil
- kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 oz cubed pancetta
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbs fresh thyme leaves
- ¼ cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Prep Butternut Squash & Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 425°F with 2 baking sheets inside the oven. Prepare butternut squash & cut into cubes*. In a large bowl, toss squash cubes with olive oil, a big pinch kosher salt & pepper. Add uncooked pancetta cubes & toss again.
- Roast Butternut Squash: When oven is preheated, carefully remove baking sheets. Place half butternut squash on one baking sheet and half on the other. Place back in oven. Keep bowl out & set aside. Roast for 20 minutes without tossing. You may want to rotate the top baking sheet to the bottom rack & bottom baking sheet to top rack about halfway through to ensure even roasting.
- Maple Garlic: While squash is roasting, mince garlic and toss it in the oily/salty bowl with ¼ cup maple syrup & thyme leaves. Toss and let sit. Remove the squash/pancetta after 20 minutes and drizzle the maple garlic mixture over each baking sheet (using ½ the mixture for one sheet & ½ for the other). Roast for 15-20 more minutes until squash & pancetta are cooked through & is a bit crispy but tender. Serve warm.
Notes
Home Cook's Tips:
- Prepare Squash & Cut into Cubes by peeling it with a vegetable peeler. Next, cut off the bottom bulbous half. Cut the round bottom part in half longways , scoop out seeds & discard. Cut the longer neck part in half longways. Cut both halves into ½ inch cubes. this is the best tutorial
- Make squash up to 24 hours in advance & warm through at 350 for 15-20 minutes, tossing occasionally. It will lose some of the crisp-ness, but is perfect made ahead.
- You can buy pre-cubed butternut squash. You can also pre-cube your butternut squash up to 2 days before roasting.