Roasting Whole Squash For Fresh DIY Purée

DIY Gluten Free Health Holiday Preservation Recipes Urban Farming

I love Winter squash, but I've always been pretty certain that I'm going to lose a finger trying to cut them in half for cooking. That is why I LOVE this method for making purée from pumpkins, or from any other type of winter squash: It involves absolutely no hazardous cutting of hard squash! Also, the method is easy enough that there's never going to be a need to buy the canned stuff.

Literally, all you have to do is take your squash and bake it in the oven until it's soft. I preheat the oven to about 375. I find it essential to place a baking sheet on a lower rack, below the squash, to catch the drips. Rather than timing them, I determine their done-ness first by noticing them leaking liquid onto the baking sheet, and second by poking them with a knife. It should go in very easily. It might take 50 minutes to over an hour, depending on the size of the squash you are roasting.

Pumpkins will start leaking fluids when they are nearly done.

You may find that they cook more evenly if you rotate the squash onto a different side halfway through baking. With a small squash, this will hardly be necessary, but with something larger I've found it helps the squash to soften evenly on all sides. 

Once they're soft, remove them from the oven. I pull out the baking sheet first, and place the squash on it to cool. If you cut them in half they will cool faster. They will slice like butter.

Once they cool enough that you can handle them easily, scoop out the seeds and gunk from the center. If you have any kind of farm animals, they will love this stuff. Even my cat eats it. Of course, you can roast the seeds for people as well.

Next, separate the flesh from the skin. This is easier with the thicker skinned pumpkins, a bit more of a hassle with butternut. Place all the flesh in a food processor, and blend until it looks like this:

Use this puree to make whatever you like, from soups to pies, breads to ravioli. It's super easy and you'll never need the canned stuff again! I like to roast more than I need and freeze the excess. You could also can it after pureeing.

This roasting method works great for making delicious spaghetti squash as well!

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Roasting Whole Squash For Fresh DIY Purée

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Oleh Mellow

Mellow January 09, 2013 15 Comment