Brett loves squash. Especially “weird” ones: acorn squash, spaghetti squash and butternut squash. Since these are winter squashes, they’re in season and will be making more appearances on our menu, to his great pleasure.

There’s a small booth at the farmer’s market run by an Anabaptist family that we usually turn to for huge bunches of basil for only $2 and gorgeous, delicious Armenian cucumbers. We picked up a butternut squash from them this week, and I started the hunt for a new recipe to try. I found some arborio rice in the pantry that I needed to use up, so I narrowed my search to Butternut Squash Risotto.

I followed the recipe from Simply Recipes and just made a small change after reading the comments. Instead of sautéing the diced butternut squash at the beginning, I roasted the whole squash ahead of time. Then I diced half and pureed half. I added the diced squash right when I was finishing the onions, and I added the puree at the end with the butter and parmesan. I think this made for great flavor and consistency.

This satisfied Brett’s butternut squash craving. I liked it because it wasn’t overly-sweet or overly-spiced like many butternut squash recipes. And Hannah liked it, too! She called it “Quash Sotto.” Served with some whole wheat sourdough (also from the farmer’s market), it was a really tasty meal.

Dealing with the hard, tough-skinned squash can be the hardest part of a butternut squash recipe. They are renowned for being difficult to deal with. I took some advice I found online and cut the squash in half lengthwise, skin still on, scraped out the seeds and roasted it. After it cooled, I peeled and diced it. Really easy!

If you have a favorite butternut squash recipe, please post in the comments below. I’d love new ideas for this healthy, seasonal ingredient.