You can’t go wrong with caramelized onions and roasted butternut squash. Here’s a pretty easy (once you get the pie crust out of the way) special dinner recipe. Sure, it’s a bit fattening, but hey, once in a while you just have to splurge. If you’re having some company over and making dairy, this is definitely a great recipe to impress guests with. The list of ingredients looks rather long, but I found that I had a lot of the ingredients.
This recipe is from The Art and Soul of Baking, a book that I haven’t used in a while. I’m happy to have it opened up again, and keep finding more and more recipes to try…
I happened to have a pie crust in the freezer from last time I made. If you don’t have a pie crust, make it the day before, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. It’ll keep at room temperature for three days.
Ingredients:
- One pie crust (either store-bought or homemade. I obviously prefer homemade)
Squash:
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Onion:
- 1 large onion, cut into very thin slices (hooray for my mandolin)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt
Custard:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup cheese
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon dried chives (the original recipe called for a tablespoon of fresh, but since I didn’t see any at the supermarket, I substituted for the dried stuff)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 357 degrees.
2. Toss the squash with olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast for 20 – 25 minutes until tender.
3. While squash is roasting, heat olive oil and butter in a pan over medium head until the butter melts. Add the onion and cook until golden, about 25 minutes.
4. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees.
5. Prepare the custard: In a large bowl, whisk the milk and eggs together. When blended, Whisk in the cream, 1/2 cup of cheese, the herbs, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.
6. Assemble the pie: spread the onion over the cooled pie crust. Scrape the onion on top and spread into an even layer on top of the onions. Slowly pour the custard over the squash in a circular pattern. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the custard puffs and moves as one piece (like Jell-O). Let cool for 30 minutes, serve warm.
