Roasted Butternut Squash

I think I've probably mentioned a hundred times that, a few years ago, I sat in the emergency room for about five hours from a squash-cutting injury.  Since then, I've carefully avoided cutting raw squash -- using squash purees for dips and soups, and steaming my whole squashes in the microwave, rather than cutting them into pieces.

But that couldn't go on forever.  As much as I like microwaved squash (and I do!), I needed to branch out.  So I slowly, carefully, fearfully cut up a butternut squash.

Fortunately, my thumb is still intact this morning.  Perhaps I'll get over this little phobia after all -- sooner, probably, because the finsished product was so good.  Sage works so perfectly in butternut squash soup, I figured it made a great addition to this dish as well.  However, I would use fresh sage if you have it -- the dried kind got a little bit gritty after being roasted.  Or just add more liquid to the recipe -- white wine or more butter never hurts.

Roated Butternut Squash

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium sized butternut squash, cut into 1" pieces

1-2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp coarse sea salt

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh sage leaves, or 1/2 tsp dried sage

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Toss all ingredients together in a medium-sized roasting pan.

3. Cook for 40-45 minutes, pausing midway through to re-toss squash. Serve.

Serves 4.