I still remember the first time I bought a butternut squash and brought it home for dinner. Mainly because I had absolutely no idea what to do with it to get it into a remotely edible form. Turns out the transformation from gourd to food takes quite a lot of doing and can be pretty tricky, particularly if you aren’t familiar with this lovely fall vegetable.
The good news is that once you know the basics of butternut squash prep, you can save yourself a good $5 (or even more) at the store by buying the whole squash, rather than the conveniently pre-cut version. Definitely worth it. Also, the prep process is a pretty decent arm and shoulder workout, so you can multi-task while getting dinner ready. (If that doesn’t win you over, I don’t know what will.)
So, here’s what we’re going to do:
1) Using a sharp knife, slice off the top and bottom of the squash.
2) Cut the squash in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.
3) Using a peeler, remove the tough outer layer of the squash. Keep going until you get through the pale orange layer (the skin) and down to the darker orange part (the actual squash.) The veins should be almost completely scraped away.
4) Chop the peeled halves into the desired size and add to whatever recipe you want!
