Day 170: You Must Try This!

Tonight's dinner was a celebration of autumn and the holiday season.  

If you read my Thanksgiving entry, you may recall that we grilled an herb rubbed turkey breast this year, rather that roasting the whole bird.  The herb mixture includes garlic, thyme, rosemary, and parsley - combined and made into a paste in a food processor.  Since Thanksgiving, I've used this herb mixture with halibut and tonight I used it with organic bone-in skin-on chicken breasts.  As with the turkey, I gently pulled the skin away from the chicken breasts and placed a thick layer of herb rub underneath.  Then, I browned the chicken in a skillet pre-heated with olive oil and then placed it in a glass baking dish to finish in the oven.  (375 degrees for about 30 minutes)

But the star of tonight's meal was the side dish.  I started with a recipe I found on Epicurious.com and tweaked it to make it a bit more dynamic and interesting.

Ingredients:

1 2-lb butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 T light brown sugar

1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

2 T olive oil

1 cup fresh cranberries

3 T unsalted butter

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/3 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

Combine squash, sugar, thyme, and oil in a large bowl.  Season with S&P and toss to make sure squash is evenly coated.

Lay squash out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (spray pan with non-stick spray beforehand) and roast at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, sprinkle cranberries over the top of the squash and roast for another 15 minutes.

Melt butter at medium-low heat until browned (4-5 minutes).  

Once squash and cranberries are finished cooking, place them in a large bowl.  Pour the brown butter over the top, add the nutmeg and pistachios, and toss it all together.  Serve!

The ingredients in this dish balance each other out perfectly - sweet, sour, a little crunchy, a little salty.  It was pretty close to perfect and I look forward to making it many more times this winter.  Experimenting with recipes is fun - especially when it works out so well!