Loaded Butternut Squash
Foodopennear.com with loaded butternut squash cordon bleu that's right there are so many amazing things people do with butternut squash.
Right butternut squash for this recipe and that would be one where the bottom in the top part or neck are about the same size okay the bottom is always going to be a little more bulbous but if you can try to find one like this where that is not so pronounced and then once we have our squash the next thing we want to do is cut it in half lengthwise without losing a finger and for that we will start our cut going through the top ideally cutting through that really hard stem right through the center and at no point during this operation should your other hand come anywhere.
Near that blade and then once that's been accomplished we'll use that as a guide to cut all the way to the back of the squash although definitely not in one big grand cut okay we want to go slow and just do a little bit at a time which i do with a combination of a rocking motion on the knife as well as for the thicker parts giving it a little pound with the other hand on top but again at no point is our guide hand anywhere close to being able to go under the blade and eventually especially if your first cut was nicely centered you should be able to split this in two very uniformly and that's it we now have two halves and at least ten fingers and then once we have that split we'll go ahead and take a spoon and scrape out the seeds and one of the main reasons i want you to buy a squash that's not overly curvaceous is because you're going to have less seeds and more squash.
We'll go ahead and transfel those onto a foil lined baking sheet at which point we can transfer that into the center of a 375 degree oven for about an hour and a half or so depending on the size or until they are beautifully tender but not falling apart and of course we're going to test that with a tip of a knife and you can see here some old scars from previous testing and then as soon as those are cool enough to handle what we'll do is scoop that cook squash into a bowl but very important we do want to leave about a half inch attached to the skin.
Course we're going to use these as shells to stuff everything back into and if we end up scooping all the way down to the skin these might sort of collapse when we cook them and they just won't look as nice and then to our scoop squash we will add some salt as well as some freshly ground black pepper plus a nice big spoon of dijon mustard which is absolutely critical here.
We're going to finish this step up with one beaten egg at which point we'll take a nice big spoon and give this a mix but also a mash right if you want and then what we'll do once that's been all stirred and smashed together is toss in some sliced green onions followed by because we're calling this cordon blue some diced smoked ham and a lot of it as well as some greer cheese which is the classic cheese used in cordon bleu but i think a nice sharp white cheddar would also work out beautifully here and that's it we'll simply give this a mix until everything is combined.
That's it once those have been cheesed rando and crosshatch were ready to transfer into the center of a 475 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so or until they're beautifully browned and look like there's a green onion on the table man. Hammy cheesy butternut squashy goodness extremely flavorful as well as fairly rich and decadent but not overly so and a lot of that comes from the gruyere cheese which is very buttery and nutty and that's why it works.
For some caramelized mushrooms which i'm thinking would be very very nice but whether you make this meatless or not or you serve it as an entree or a side.
