Dinner with the Girls and a Butternut Squash

So, I am planning a dinner party, very casual (which is to say that I will vacuum but probably won't dust or mop), with some girlfriends on Saturday night.  No boys will be present, so I can serve vegetables as the main course.  That's unfair, probably, to suggest that all boys dislike vegetables just because my boy does.  But it does seem that men need, or think they need, meat in a way that women just don't.  When I was a child, whenever my father traveled for work, Mom and I had meatless meals like cheese souffle or waffles for supper, and it seemed a particular treat to skip the pork chop, the steak, the meatloaf.  How backwards this is from the olden times when meat was scarce--because animals were hard to catch or expensive to raise--and people lived a plant-based diet by default.   Now, meat is easier (at least easier on the consumer, still pretty hard on the animals) than vegetables.  I could buy a piece of meat in a plastic tray covered with cellophane, throw it in a hot pan, and there's dinner (for a man, anyway).

Instead, for the girls I am going to make Butternut Squash and Parmesan Bread Pudding, and it will be a bit more work, mostly because of the squash itself.  For me, butternut squash falls into the category of how-did-anyone-think-to-eat-this foods.  Oysters are another obvious example.  In fact, how did anyone ever think to eat animals in the first place?  Probably by watching other animals, I suppose.  I realize that predation is a fact of life.  But if I had been the first human in charge of finding food, meat would not have been on the menu.  Not just because I am soft-hearted and squeamish (which I am) but because I lack that particular kind of imagination.  If I didn't know about meat, I simply would not look at a cow in a field and think "food."  I might wonder if the cow would mind if I joined her in the field for foraging.  Perhaps there would be berries or edible flowers out there.  And I am observant enough to see that cows produce milk, and it would occur to me, I am pretty sure, to drink the milk.  I might even make the leap to butter and cheese, and thank goodness that someone did, I love butter and cheese.

But it is not in my nature to think, "You know, that big hairy animal out there, if I cut its throat with a knife, and then skinned it, and disposed of the feet and the horns and any other pointy parts or potentially squishy inside bits, then carved it into large chunks and heated those chunks over fire...well, that might be dinner."  It is enough for me that I can take a squash, the impervious butternut squash, and make it a meal.  But I can, no one has to get hurt (at least if I carve carefully, no one does), and it is a delicious and healthy supper.

Here is the recipe for Butternut Squash and Parmesan Bread Pudding, from my wonderful Cooking Light Complete Cookbook (2006), which has a good Meatless Main Dishes section.  You should totally serve this with kale. 

• 3 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash  (Click here for tips on how to cut the darn thing.)
• Cooking spray 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon olive oil 
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• 1 cup chopped onion 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups 1% low-fat milk (I use whole milk, more on which later)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 large eggs 
• 2 large egg whites (Or just use 4 - 5 whole eggs)
• 8 ounces (1-inch) cubed day-old French bread, about 9 cups.  I used up bread that I had in the house, some of which was whole grain.  I think it made the pudding heartier and tastier than just French bread would have.   

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°.
• Arrange squash in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 350°.
• Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  (Use more oil if you need it; olive oil is a healthy fat!) Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
• Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, milk, 1/2 cup cheese, pepper, nutmeg, eggs, and egg whites in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in squash and onion mixture. Add bread, and stir gently to combine. Let stand 10 minutes. Spoon into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until pudding is set and lightly browned.

Marie Simmons, Cooking Light
OCTOBER 2004