I, dear friends, have been saddled with a squash nonbeliever.
I did it to myself, really. I *knew* my DH harbored this character flaw way back when he was only ‘the boyfriend’, and chose to ignore it – to deal with this injustice later; to blindly turn my eye to the potential battleground that would become dinner and forge ahead.
This squash distainer sits at my dinner table (who am I kidding? the couch) every night during the fall, hoping whatever huge wintery monstrosity made my eyes shiny at the grocery store/farmers’ market the weekend before is not making an appearance on his plate. And then it does, and the poor guy does what he can with it. Funky textures, sweetly savory tastes and all.
This dish is an olive branch of sorts – a peace offering for the many, many hashes and roasted lumps of undesirables I make my longsuffering DH consume each year when the mercury dips below 50. For the broken promises of crispiness; the bait-and-switches that come when silky purees don’t have the expected flavor profile.
Who doesn’t love bacon? And if you have to eat squash to get it, maybe that bacon fat-basted root veggie won’t be so bad.
Gluten-free, paleo, Whole30 if you luck up and can get compliant bacon
Bacon-Wrapped Butternut Squash
1/2 a large butternut squash
6 slices bacon
Salt
Pepper
Chili powder
Preheat your oven to 400 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Now attack your squash. Peel with a vegetable peeler, lop off the ends and cut into half width-wise (you should have two big hunks of squash – 1 with seeds and 1 without). Cut your seedless half into half again and then into large fry looking wedges.
Reserve the other half for another purpose (a nice hash, perhaps).
Cut your bacon into half so you end up with 12 slices.
Wrap a slice of bacon per wedge – my large butternut yielded 12 good wedges; perfect for the amount of bacon I had on hand. When wrapping, make sure both ends wind up on the same side and put that side down on the prepared baking sheet.
Sprinkle with chili powder, salt and pepper.
Bake for 30 minutes (or until the squash is soft and the bacon is done), kick your broiler up to high, and broil 5 minutes on each side to finish crisping the bacon and brown the edges of the squash.
Serves 3
Gastography 