Friday night I had my best friend and her family over for dinner. My BFF has two boys who are the same ages as my two boys, and as luck would have it, they’re all best buds. So, every other Friday night the grown ups huddle in the kitchen (more than likely serving as my guinea pigs) while the kids eat pizza and tear up the house.
Since I knew the weather was going to be really crappy, I threw my Turkey-Butternut squash Chili in the crock pot and let it roll. As usual, I had a big chunk of Butternut squash left over and I thought, hmmmm, I bet I could make a dip out of you. And sure enough, thanks to my favorite cooking tool, the internet, I landed on the one below originally from Cooking Light Magazine. The original recipe called for crème fresh or sour cream. Since I didn’t have either and there was no way I was going to the store in the aforementioned crappy weather, I substituted about 3/4 of a 5.2 oz container of Boursin Garlic and Herb Cheese. I’ve obviously never tried the original recipe, but I bet the cheese made the dip even better. You be the judge. Below is the original recipe. Try them both and send Jersey Bites the results.
Ingredients
1 (2-pound) butternut squash
1 small Walla Walla or other sweet onion, trimmed and quartered (I just used a regular yellow onion and it was great)
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or whole sour cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
a Tablespoon of snipped chives (this was my addition. I thought it needed a little contrast in color.)
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cut squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Brush cut sides of squash halves, cut sides of onion quarters, and garlic cloves with oil. Arrange squash halves, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan; arrange onion quarters and garlic cloves on pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until tender. Cool slightly. Peel squash. Squeeze garlic cloves to extract pulp.
Place squash, onion, and garlic pulp in a food processor; process until smooth. Add crème fraîche and remaining ingredients; process to combine. Serve warm.
Serve with Pita Chips, toasted French bread slices, or really good potato chips.
