Roasted Butternut Squash With Feta and Dates -- a Thanksgiving #recipe

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  My hunny loves dates, so when I found boxes of them—pitted and unpitted—at Costco last fall, we went on a date spree. ((You’ll see two more recipes using them from me next month.) I spotted this recipe, using some of our favorite fall flavors, in a Washington Post column by Joe Yonan, who adapted it from “Piecemeal” by Kathryn Pauline (Chronicle Books, 2023). I’ve adapted it slightly. 

With squash, feta, rosemary, and ever-festive dates, the dish is a fun Thanksgiving side, but it would also make a great gluten-free, vegetarian main dish. It can be served hot, warm, or at room temperature, which is extra nice on a day when oven space is hotly contested.

I bought the butternut squash already cut. If you buy a whole squash, cut the bell and neck apart. Slice off the ends. Stand each piece upright on a cutting board and peel with a sharp knife. 

You’ll have extra vinaigrette; I’ve used the extra to moisten leftovers, but it would also dress up other roasted vegetables, especially broccoli or cauliflower. I used balsamic vinegar both times we’ve made this, but red wine vinegar would work nicely too. 

Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers! We are grateful for your friendship and readership. 

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Roasted Butternut Squash With Feta and Dates 

For the vinaigrette:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons balsamic or red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons water

1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 clove garlic, finely grated or pressed

1/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

For the squash:

1 medium butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cubed

1 small red onion (6 ounces), halved and thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

6 ounces feta, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus more for serving

8 Medjool dates, pitted and cut into eights (quarter them, then cut crosswise)

Heat oven to 500 degrees.

Make the vinaigrette: In a small jar, combine the oil, vinegar, water, mustard, maple syrup, garlic and salt. Screw on the lid and shake to emulsify. Taste, and season with more salt as needed.

Roast the squash: Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and place the squash and onions on it. Drizzle over 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette and stir or use your hands to coat evenly. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer—as Julia Child says, don’t crowd the pan! Tuck the feta around the squash; it’s fine if the pieces break. Sprinkle with the rosemary.

Roast for 10 minutes, then top with the dates. 

Continue roasting for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the feta is charred in spots and the squash has cooked through but isn’t mushy. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with more rosemary, and drizzle with a little more vinaigrette, to taste, if you’d like. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Servings: 4-6 (makes about 6 cups)

Refrigerate leftovers and any extra vinaigrette, separately, for up to 4 days. Leftovers can be warmed in the microwave. 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

TO ERR IS CUMIN:A Spice Shop Mystery (Seventh St. Books, out now in paper, ebook, and audio)

From the cover: One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback left on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.

Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, but Pepper refuses to help him search. When Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.

On the hunt for Talia, Pepper discovers a web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. The more she probes, the harder it gets to tell who’s part of an unsavory scheme of corruption—and who might be the next victim.

Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up and asking questions.

One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .

Available at Amazon  * Barnes & Noble  * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * And your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. 

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.