The Only Good Thing About Butternut Squash...the bisque

I am not a fan of squash.  Any squash.  But, I do grow butternut squash and put it up for one use and one use only…Susan Branch’s recipe for Butternut Bisque (check out her book, Heart Of The Home  Notes From A Vineyard Kitchen (1986) for the recipe).  I do love this Butternut Bisque.

 

So, I grow a few vines in my vegetable garden and forget about them until harvest time in late September, early October when the vines and leaves die back and I can actually see the pale orange vegetables. This year, 34 squash of various sizes and shapes, were harvested.  Most have the typical butternut squash shape, but others seem to end up more rotund with less tapering toward the vine end.

 

Last season, I washed and dipped each squash into a weak chlorine solution to combat any bacteria prior to storage.   I laid them all out on a table in my living room for about two weeks to harden their skins which helps them keep longer.  I then placed all these squash in a small storage room which I refer to as my root cellar.  It is not formally a root cellar, but a small room in the basement.  Then, I forgot all these squash were stored there.  Some stored well and others rotted and deteriorated into mush all over the floor.  I remembered the squash when I smelled the squash remnants - ugh!

 

 

This year I am trying a new-to-me technique for preserving my butternut squash.  I think it is ideal as the result is a product ready to use in the bisque.  The recipe calls for cubed squash, 2 - 2 ½ pounds.

 

 

 

 

I wash the squash, skin and remove the seeds, and cut into cubes.  I place the cubes on a cookie sheet into the freezer to thoroughly freeze before placing the cubes into recipe-sized freezer bags.  Now, when I want to make the bisque, I will just go to the freezer and grab a bag.  The hardest part of making the bisque is preparing the squash and now it is done in advance.

 

 

 

 

Now, if someone out there reading this blog knows that this technique does not work, please do not say anything to me.  I have already finished freezing about half of my harvest and I do not care to know…let me discover any sad news on my own.  Until then, I will keep thinking of making more Butternut Bisque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only have 14 more squash to process.  I am in no hurry. I am taking my time and enjoying the bags full of the bright orange cubes of squash.

 

 

Aren’t they pretty?  They sure brighten up my freezer.

 

 

And, they put a smile on my face when I go into that freezer and am greeted with these bags of sunshine.