Think your kids won’t eat squash? Then You haven’t tried this tasty side dish.
The first time I made this recipe I loved it. But to make it again meant a fight with another butternut squash to get it into cubes. I happened to notice that my grocery store sells frozen already cubed butternut squash. SCORE!!! I purchase foil 6×8” pans with cardboard lids from my local dollar store to freeze and store this dish in.
Ingredientss
- 3 cups butternut squash, in ¾ inch chunks
- 1 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2/3 cup fresh Parmesan, grated
- 1/3 cup Panko (or breadcrumbs)
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
(f you are using the frozen cubed butternut squash you can omit this next step.)
Directions
- In a medium pot, cover squash with cold water, place a lid on top and bring to a boil over high heat.
- When boiling, reduce heat so that the water just simmers and cook squash for about 15 min. or until tender.
- Rinse under cold water; drain. (Do-Ahead: at this point the squash can be stored for up to two days until you are ready to assemble the gratin.)
- In a medium bowl, beat egg, salt and mayonnaise together.
- Add Parmesan, panko, onion and squash and fold together gently to combine.
- Season with pepper and more salt, if needed.
- Place in a small foil pan with cardboard lid. I place a layer of saran wrap between the lid and foil pan for extra protection against freezer burn.
- I bake 30 min before I freeze to allow shorter cooking time at meal time.
Cooking Directions
- Write these on the cardboard lid of pan.
- Remove any plastic or saran wrap from the pan.
- Bake 30 min in oven to 350°F. (Really you’re just warming it through.)
- (1 hour if it was a fresh squash you cubed yourself and you haven’t already cooked if halfway ahead of time) or until heated through and cheese is slightly browned. Serve hot.
- Recipe serves up to 8 people