Butternut Squash with Apples and Maple Syrup

Today, I attempted an easy crock pot adaptation of a favorite labor intensive (boiling, baking, sauce making) Thanksgiving substitute for yams or sweet potatoes.  I roughly halved the original recipe, and changed the cut squash and apple shapes to save even more prep time.  Use a vegetable peeler to peel the butternut squash, or you will lose too much of the meat.  Even with this tip, it is still a labor intensive process to peel, seed, and cut up a butternut squash.  So give yourself some time.  Know, that if this turns out even half as good as the boiled, baked, and sauced original, it will be worth the effort.  I hope this works.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Winner, Loser, or Meh

I liked this.  Because this was basically "stewed" and not subjected to the drying heat of an oven, it is very different in texture than the original dish that inspired it.  There is more juice, and it does not firm up at the bottom, as it does in the oven version.  I don't think I care.  I think this is delicious as a breakfast.  I prefer this to porridge based breakfasts, it might even be good on a breakfast porridge.   I served this up in a little bowl and made sure to ladle lots of delicious juice from the bottom.  I ate it with a fork and a spoon.  Yum!

Recipe

I used an older medium crock pot for this.  The temperature this is lower than newer models.

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled (use vegetable peeler), seeded, cut into 1-1 1/2 inch chunks
3 medium-size tart apples, peeled (or not), quartered, cored, cut into 1-1 1/2  inch chunks
1/3 cup currants or raisins
Freshly grated nutmeg (see: very cool cheap nutmeg mill)
salt
pepper
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 lemon lightly juiced
2-3 Tbls butter, cut into pieces

Spray crock with no stick spray. Place all ingredients in crock  in order listed, except for the butter. Season generously with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir to evenly coat.  Dot with butter pieces on top.  Cover. Cook until squash and apples are very tender.  3 hours on high or 7 on low.  If you are using a newer model crock pot, these times will be substantially less.