Apparently it was autumn of 2007 when I became obsessed with squash dishes. I know this because I found a motherlode of squash recipes in a subfolder titled Thanksgiving 2007. For this month's Culinary Smackdown, I had in mind to reprise one that ended up being my favorite of everything I cooked that holiday. But there was another I've never forgotten and always wanted to try: Fresh Butternut Squash Salad.
You may be reading this and shaking your head as I did when I first read the recipe. Eating a hard winter vegetable like butternut squash raw? Huh? My usual inclination is to go with roasting squash or turning it into soup.
Guess what happens when you don't cook the heck out of it? If yours is as fresh as the one I got at Hyde Park farmers market last week, it's fragrant and melon-y and very easy to peel into lovely curls for this salad, with prosciutto, parmesan, and nuts. Add a little olive oil and red wine vinegar, and you're good to go. I topped mine with some microgreens I was lucky enough to have on hand. But really, this is dead simple and truly delicious.
This month's host (and last month's winner) for the Culinary Smackdown, Jen of Our Good Food Life, is up with her host post. If you're playing this month, head on over to her place to share a link back to your entry in her comments section. I'm looking forward to a wealth of great ideas from all!
Thanks to Jen for taking on this month's hosting duties. And to all the participants, and onlookers, for supporting this friendly little monthly cooking/blogging competition. As the resident cheerleader for the Smackdown, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to put it on hiatus during the busy months of November and December, then resume in January. Leave a comment here to let me know what you think.
