This recipe for Butternut Squash Mash is made super creamy with a secret ingredient. It gets amp'ed up with flavor from simple garnishes and an easy-peasy, yet flavorful Tahini Sauce. This is the perfect side for your holiday, yet easy enough to accompany any weekend meal!
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Place squash halves, cut side up, on prepared baking sheet. Pierce each squash half with a fork several time. Melt 1 TBS of butter and brush top and insides of squash with butter and season with ¼ teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoonpepper, cumin and cayenne. Roast squash until tender, and a knife can easily be inserted, about 1 hour. Halfway through cooking, remove squash from oven and use a pastry brush to brush butter that has pooled in the cavity of squash onto the tops and continue roasting.
Meanwhile: Melt remaining ½ tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté until soft and translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
And Prepare the Tahini Sauce: In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients for the tahini sauce, until smooth. If consistency is too thick, add additional water, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.
When squash is cooked and cool enough to handle, but still warm, scoop out inside of butternut squash and transfer it to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add tofu, chicken broth, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon Za’atar and puree until silky smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides of bowl as necessary. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Transfer butternut squash mash to a large bowl or platter. Drizzle with tahini sauce and garnish with pepitas, zaatar, and sautéed shallots.
Notes
*Tahini sauce adopted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem