I was wandering around Natural Grocer's, the only place I was sure to find golden beets in cow-town (my minimally affectionate name for this place I'm calling home for the duration of my college education) when the selection of what I can only describe as miniature yams, and perfect lightbulb shaped butternut squash caught my eye. In my beautiful-vegetable-induced trance I found the golden beets (equally beautiful to the rest of the aforementioned vegetables) and picked up a small bag of walnuts. My first bite brought a flood of the always welcome winter holiday feelings and I knew this dish had a permanent spot on my Thanksgiving table.
1 2oz bag unsalted walnuts
1/4 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 average sized butternut squash peeled and cubed
2 small or 1 medium yam peeled and cubed
2 medium golden beets peeled and cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp honey
In my search for how to go about dealing with the seemingly daunting idea of cubing a butternut squash I found Simply Recipes, a food site with wonderful instructions for the task at hand. See Simply Recipes How-To for the method I used to cube the squash, yams, and beets.
Place a large tinfoil lined sheet pan in your oven and preheat it to 400F
Combine the cubed vegetables, 1 tbsp olive oil, thyme, and sage in a large bowl and toss to combine
Pour onto your hot sheet pan and carefully spread out the vegetables so all of the pieces are touching the pan and there are no piles
Roast for 35 minutes stirring gently halfway through
During the last 10 minutes of baking turn heat up to 450F, this will help caramelize the sugar in the vegetables
Now is the time to toast and salt the walnuts so heat a medium sautee pan over medium heat, place walnuts in pan and stir constantly for 3-5 minutes
When the walnuts have become very aromatic and have started to turn golden brown remove from heat Keep a close eye on them, there is a thin line between toasted and burned!
Add 1/4 tsp olive oil to pan and stir to coat, top with salt
Remove the vegetables from the oven, put in a serving dish, drizzle with 1 tbsp honey, and top with salted walnuts
Servings 4
Per serving 275 calories
