Roasted winter squash and seitan with curry butter and apple cider

November 11, 2012 at 1:46 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Derek's faves, Fall recipes, Monthly menu plan: dinner, Peter Berley, Quick weeknight recipe, Vegetable dishes, Winter recipes)

This recipe is from the autumn section of Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast.  It’s paired with a recipe for stuffed lettuce, kind of like cabbage rolls except with romaine lettuce leaves instead of cabbage.  I haven’t tried the stuffed lettuce yet, but I’ve made this squash recipe many times. It’s very easy and always a hit. I usually make it with red kuri squash, which has a nice flavor and texture and a thin skin that doesn’t need to be peeled. When I make it with red kuri squash, I call it curried kuri. 

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs. unrefined brown sugar, such as Sucanat
• 1 Tbs. hot curry powder
• 1/4 tsp. fine salt (too little, add more, maybe 1/2 tsp.?)
• 3 pounds winter squash, peeled if necessary, seeded, and cut into 2-inch chunks (About 2.75?? pounds without seeds?)
• 340g seitan (optional, about 12 ounces)
• 1 cup apple cider

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.  Select an ovenproof skillet or casserole pan large enough to hold the squash in a single layer. (I usually use a 12-inch stainless steel skillet.)
2. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat.  Add the brown sugar, curry powder, and salt, and cook, stirring, until dissolved.  Add the squash and seitan (if using) and toss to coat.
3. Gradually pour the cider down the side of the pan without pouring it directly over the squash. (You don’t want to wash the protective butter layer off the top of the squash.) Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.
4. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 30 minutes, giving it a quick flip / stir midway through cooking time.  The squash is done when the tip of a knife does not meet with any resistance when inserted into the squash.

Update Jan 2023: I made this tonight with a full 3 pounds of red kuri squash in the pot (about 1.5 squashes) and 200g seitan. Derek thought the pan was too full but it actually fit fine. I thought it came out a bit underseasoned but Derek said he thought it was better than usual. We both wished there was more seitan. So I think next time I will up the seitan to about 340g and go back to 3 pounds of squash before seeding (so maybe around 2.75 pounds without the seeds?) We served the squash with brussels sprouts and black beans. Alma (at age almost 8) still wouldn’t really eat this dish, although she did taste one bite. She happily ate the sprouts and beans though.  We had a colleague of Derek’s over for dinner, but she didn’t eat much, and we had enough of the dish leftover for lunch the next day.

Update Oct 2020: I made this tonight with 500g seitan. Derek made brussels sprouts and we also served leftover barley and some pomegranate. Alma (at age 5.5) took one bite of this dish and said she didn’t like it. She happily ate the brussels sprouts and pomegranate, but didn’t want any barley. Derek and I both loved the curried kuri. And there was enough for leftovers for lunch!

Update Jan 2019: I made this tonight and also threw brussels sprouts and chickpeas onto a preheated baking sheet in the oven, in case Alma (still) didn’t like it. I roasted the sprouts for 20 minutes and they were definitely overcooked. Next time I will just try 10 minutes. As predicted, Alma (at almost 4) still didn’t like the curried kuri. She only ate out a few pieces of seitan and then handed me her bowl. She ended up eating some brussels sprouts and then a bowl of leftover black-eyed peas.

Update Nov 2015: I edited the original recipe above to include seitan as an option. We make this dish often in the fall and winter (at least once or twice a month), and usually make it on a weekday night as a one-pot dinner. Adding the seitan makes it more substantial and feeling. Sometimes we leave out the seitan and eat the squash with a simple bowl of beans or lentil soup or dal with yogurt. I’m also kind of curious about throwing some sort of bean into the dish. But what kind? Chickpeas? Kidney beans?

My notes from the first time I made the recipe, in Nov 2012:

Berley says that he likes delicata, red kuri, buttercup, and hokkaido for this dish, since all have smooth, dense flesh and tender skins, which do not require peeling.

I used red kuri (called Hokaiidokürbis here in Germany).    After removing the seeds I had 770g of edible squash.  My curry powder isn’t hot so I used 2.75 tsp. of curry and 1/4 tsp. of cayenne.  I couldn’t find apple cider so just used a nice cloudy (trüb in German) apple juice from the organic store.   I was a tad short on butter—I used 37g instead of 3 Tbs. (42g).

This recipe worked well I thought.  The squash cooked nicely and the sauce reduced to a thick glaze.  The squash didn’t really taste curried though.  More just sweet and buttery and savory.  The peels on the red kuri were fine, but noticeable.  They were slightly tougher than the rest of the squash.

Derek really liked the dish.  He asked me to make it again when we had company later in the week.  The second time I used a mix of red kuri, delicata, and a hubbard squash (which I peeled, painfully).  I only had 3/4 cup of apple juice left so I added another 1/4 cup of water.  The final dish was noticeably less sweet I thought.  The hubbard squash turned out really starchy. Our guest said it reminded him of chestnuts.  He seemed to like it the best but Derek and I both liked the red kuri much more than either the delicata or the hubbard, which was our least favorite.

I imagine you could easily make this recipe vegan by substituting olive oil or a butter-substitute for the butter. You could also probably cut down on the amount of butter if you want a less decadent glaze, but then you might want to cut back on the sugar as well.

Rating: B+
Derek: B+