Butternut Squash and Turkey Casserole

Okay, so this turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp dried rosemary 1/2 tsp black bepper 1/4 tsp salt (for squash) 1 large shallot 1 lb ground turkey 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper	1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cumin 12 oz whole wheat penne pasta 3/4 cup shredded provolone (3 oz) 1/3 cup parmesan cheese (1.5 oz) 1/2 tsp salt (for cheese sauce) 2 cups milk 1/4 cup flour

First thing's first, my methods do not necessarily follow the healthy tips recommended by Cooking Light. I am of the mind that I would rather use oil than cooking spray because cooking spray is weird and chemical, bla, bla, bla. I care more about reading the ingredients in what I purchase than the nutrition facts. I don't like my food to be overly processed or full of weird chemicals. I want to eat food, not lab experiments. My recipe most assuredly has more calories than theirs. If you'd like to try theirs, buy the cookbook--it's a great cookbook.

So here's what I did.

Prepared Butternut Squash:
Heated the oven to 425 and began cubing my butternut squash. When the squash was all in 1-inch cubes, I tossed it in a bowl of with the olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, the black pepper, and rosemary. Then I dumped it on a cookie sheet and threw it in the oven. It needs about 30-40 minutes. When it's done, increase the oven temp to 450.

Cooked the Pasta:
I started the boiling some water for my pasta, and then I did some of the prep work below for the turkey and shallots. Then I threw in the pasta to cook it, and continued with the turkey mix. When the pasta was soft, I drained out the water, rinsed it with some cold water, and left it waiting in the sink while I finished up the turkey and began the cheese sauce.

Prepared Turkey and Shallot
Diced up the shallot and tossed it in the bowl I had previously used to toss the squash (less dishes). Set out a large skillet and began heating it on medium. Then I threw cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cumin into my bowl with the shallot. After that I dumped in the ground turkey and mixed it all up with my hands. I completed this process by browning the whole mix in my skillet.

Prepared the Cheese Sauce:
Last but not least, I set aside my shredded provolone and parmesan so they would be ready. Then I put a large sauce pan (actually my pressure cooker) on the stove on medium heat. I put the flour and 1/2 tsp salt in. Then I began pouring the milk in about a 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly. I let it come to a boil and cooked it until it thickened just a bit (about a minute). At that point, I removed it from the heat and dumped in the provolone cheese, stirring it until the cheese melted.

Put It All Together:
Then in went the pasta and the turkey with the cheese sauce, and I mixed it all up. This all was dumbed and spread out in my 9 x 13 inch glassware pan. I spread out the now ready butternut squash over the top of it. Last, but not least, I sprinkled the parmesan over the top and popped that sucker into the oven for 10 minutes, just to melt the cheese.

Overall, it tastes pretty good, but I think I will add some crushed tomato to the turkey mix next time. It's not vegetabley enough for me. I might also make some extra provolone cheese sauce to drizzle over the top before baking. I added pasta and more meat to this recipe already, so if I add tomatoes too, I'm gonna need more gooey cheese.

Comfort Food Adventure

I need to post more about cooking adventures. I also need to have more cooking adeventures.

Just a recommendation if you like spicy tomatoey things: Dak Bokkeum with Spinach (Korean Stewed Chicken with Spinach). Made this with a friend a couple weeks ago. It was amazing. I think the fire did some serious damage to the lining of my stomach, but it was well worth it.

New exciting goal for cooking adventures will be brought to you by Cooking Light Comfort Food: Home-Cooked Delicious Classics Made Light. I was pretty happy just perusing it, and what's nice is a lot of these things are pretty affordable to make. I've decided that I want to work my way through the casseroles first because casseroles usually freeze well and make handy leftovers for lunches.

This week I will be trying the "Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta," except I have absolutely no intention of really following the directions at all. I like bacon, but I wasn't too keen on this mix, so I decided this butternut squash and pasta casserole concept should be melded with one of my favorite middle eastern inspired dishes, which mixes butternut squash with ground lamb. Yum!

What will the end product look like?

Well, they didn't have any ground lamb at the grocery store. Genius that I am, I forgot that St. Patrick's Day meant a ton of people making shepherd's pie, so my casserole will use ground turkey, which I will season with cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, as inspired by the Epicurious dish. I also went for a whole wheat penne as used by the Epicurious dish.

From Cooking Light, I will be using the casserole concept, the butternut squash prep, the cheese choices of parmesan and provolone instead of kasseri, and there will be shallots.

I will probably add more details of what I did and how this turns out when I actually make the dish. Tomorrow, I think. Same post, not a new one. I'm a cheater like that.

(I lied. Detailed instructions are povided in the next post.)