This meal answers that important, incessant, weekday question.

After braving our respective routes — Caitlin, the Red Line, I, the Beltway — we arrive home around 7:00 p.m., tired from the day’s activities.  After a quick moment of reprieve, we often head down to the apartment gym to get some much-needed exercise.

Once we’re back upstairs, the question rears its head.  The question that creeps into our minds every night, demanding an immediate answer.  The question is bandied about a few times, as each of us tries, in vain, to propose a suitable answer.

Take-out?  Maybe, but where?  Pizza?  Boring.

Do you want to grill?  Too tired.

An omelet?  We did that two nights ago.

And then, it dawns on us.  There’s a squash on the counter…and fresh vegetables in the veggie drawer.  There’s pasta in the cabinet…and fresh thyme growing outside  And there’s the answer.  The perfect answer, ready in minutes, with fresh vegetables, whole grains, and the taste of Fall.  It’s the perfect weekday meal.

WEEKNIGHT SPAGHETTI WITH ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

PREP TIME: 15 minutes
COOK TIME: 40 minutes
YIELD: Serves 4

WHAT TO GRAB:
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 pound spaghetti (we use barilla plus)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup feta
Olive oil
Kosher salt and Pepper

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat the oven to 420 degrees.  Toss the butternut squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the cinnamon, salt, and pepper.  Roast for 20 minutes.  Flip the squash pieces and roast for another 15 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add a bit of olive oil and salt.  Add the spaghetti and cook according to the box’s directions.

3.  Drain the pasta.  Return the pasta to the pot.  Over low heat, add the spinach, grape tomatoes, and thyme.  Cook only until the spinach has softened and everything has come together.  Add the butternut squash and feta.  Add the salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm!

Every city it seems, has its signature dish.  In Boston, it’s that eponymous Cream Pie; in Baltimore, it’s crab cakes. For Philadelphia, it’s cheese steak, and in Saint Louis, toasted ravioli.  In my home town, rich in culinary traditions, it could be any number of dishes, from gumbo to jambalaya, to po’boys and muffulettas, to beignets and pralines.

Here in Cincinnati, chili carries the day, with residents swearing their allegiance to one of two local brands.  Just as I-75 divides the city into East Cincinnati and West, chili divides the city between Gold Star and Skyline.

But after two months living here, I still had not tried either of the nearly ubiquitous chili shops.  So when Caitlin came to Cincinnati a few weeks ago, we decided to make our version of Cincinnati chili.

I say our version because true Cincinnati chili is usually served over spaghetti. We omitted the spaghetti and added some maple-roasted squash, befitting the fall season.  Though I can’t speak to Gold Star or Skyline, our Cincinnati chili was delicious!

Cincinnati Chili

PREP TIME: 30 minutes
COOK TIME: 40 minutes
YIELD: Serves 6

WHAT TO GRAB:
FOR THE SQUASH
1 butternut squash, peeled, chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 acorn squash, peeled, chopped into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper

FOR THE CHILI
Vegetable oil
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup low-sodium broth
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 heaping tablespoons semisweet chocolate
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
Avocado (optional)

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the squash, oil, syrup, salt, and pepper.  Mix well, so that the squash are well-coated.  On a baking sheet, roast for 30 minutes, flipping the squash after 15 minutes.  Allow to cool.

2.  Meanwhile, heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Coat the pan with  vegetable oil, and add the turkey.  Cook for three minutes, stirring to crumble. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic, and  sauté for three minutes. Stir in all the spices and tomato paste, and cook for one minute.  Add the broth, beans, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.  Once it boils, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.  Remove from the heat, and stir in the chocolate, salt, and roasted squash.  Top with avocado or shredded cheese.

It’s easy to get side-tracked in this modern world.  Text messages, phone calls, and e-mails demand our constant attention.  Or, as it may be, distract our attention from the tasks at hand.  Answering e-mails, flowing with the speed and strength of an angry river, evokes a triage center, with each incoming e-mail mentally sorted by its degree of urgency.  Phone calls and text messages are no better, and the dangers associated with driving and phoning are well-documented.

Video games and the Internet are different species of the same beast.  Punching controller buttons will always be more entertaining than punching the clock.  And when the project at hand is growing tiresome, the browser icon is always a quick click away.  There is always a headline to read or a score to check.  There is always something out there, in need of your attention.

I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow this post got neglected.  I should, of course, distinguish between posting this birthday recipe several months after-the-fact, and celebrating Caitlin’s birthday several months-after-the fact.  The former is certainly excusable; the latter, less so.

Last November, Caitlin celebrated her birthday.  To mark the occasion, I wanted to make her a cake that would satisfy both her sweet-tooth, and her love for butternut squash.  After scouring the Internet for a recipe combining butternut squash and layer cake, I found my answer.  I do not, however, have any answer for why this post was so long in the making!

Butternut Squash Layer Cake

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

PREP TIME: 40 minutes
COOK TIME: 30 minutes
YIELD: Serves 10

WHAT TO GRAB:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup cooked, puréed, butternut squash
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup milk

BROWN SUGAR FROSTING
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
3 egg whites
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well.  Mix in the squash and vanilla.

2.  In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Working in batches, and alternating with the milk, add the dry ingredients and milk to the creamed mixture.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 9-inch cake rounds.

4.  Pour equal amounts of batter into each.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove the cakes to a wire rack, to cool completely.

BROWN SUGAR FROSTING

5.  in a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tartar, and salt.  Over medium-low heat, whisk the mixture constantly, until a thermometer reads 160°, about 8-10 minutes.

6.  Pour the frosting into a mixing bowl, add the vanilla, and beat on high speed, for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is the consistency of icing.

7.  To assemble the cake, use an off-set spatula to generously apply icing between the layers of cake, and along the top and sides of the cake.  (The icing will condense, especially if the cake is refrigerated).  When transferring the cake rounds, I’ve found the underside of a pot’s lid will help prevent the rounds from breaking.  Pipe your birthday or congratulatory greeting, and serve!

After making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, I needed to find a use for all the leftover sauce.  When I noticed the leftover butternut squash purée sitting idly in its tupperware container, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I based this recipe off my earlier recipe for pumpkin pancakes, added the cranberry sauce, and called it a perfect winter brunch!

Butternut Squash Pancakes

PREP TIME: 20 minutes
COOK TIME: 10 minutes
YIELD: 12 to 14 Pancakes

WHAT TO GRAB:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups shaken buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup butternut squash puree

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat the griddle over medium-low heat.

2.  In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients – the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, squash, and butter, until smooth. Working in batches, whisk in the dry ingredients, until well combined.

4.  Grease your griddle, and pour the batter! I used about a 1/4 cup of batter per pancake.  Cook the pancakes for 4 to 5 minutes, then flip, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Top with homemade cranberry sauce, and serve warm!

HELPFUL HINTS:

*If you’re making a bunch of pancakes – and why wouldn’t you – you can keep the pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven, until ready to serve.

Cooking offers the chance to learn something new.

Sometimes, it’s a new cooking style – broiling or deep frying, perhaps.  Other times, cooking offers the opportunity to try a new spice or a new vegetable.  When I learned the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, I went out and bought two different types of yams.

Not surprisingly, when I learned the difference between the different types of winter squash, I went out and bought three different types of squash.  Among them were two varieties I had never tried: acorn and ambercup.

Roasting different varieties together has its advantages.  It offers the chance to try different flavors, to see how they interact.  And where the vegetables come in different colors, the colors themselves provide a stunning contrast for the presentation of your meal.  In this case, the yellow meat of the acorn squash helped pull together all the varying colors, without which, the meal might have looked a little bland.  It didn’t hurt that the roasted acorn squash was also delicious!

Maple-Roasted Winter Squash

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics.

PREP TIME: 30 minutes
COOK TIME:45 minutes
YIELD: Serves 4

WHAT TO GRAB:
1 medium butternut squash
1 medium acorn squash
1 medium ambercup squash
1 head of garlic, separated but not peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
6 to 8 slices of beef or turkey bacon
16 whole fresh sage leaves
French bread for serving

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Peel and seed the butternut squash and cut them into 1-inch cubes.  Don’t fret if the cubes look big: the high heat will shrink them considerably.  Place the squash and whole, unpeeled garlic cloves in a large mixing bowl.  Add the olive oil, then the maple syrup, salt, and pepper.  Mix until the squash is well coated.

3.  Grease a baking sheet with olive oil.  Lay the squash and garlic evenly on the sheet, and bake for 30 minutes, turning once after 15 minutes.

4.  After 30 minutes, remove the squash from the oven.  Lay the bacon slices over the squash and sprinkle the sage leaves over the mixture.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the squash and garlic are tender and caramelized.  Remove the bacon strips to paper towels, and allow them to drain briefly.  Chop the bacon strips into 1-inch pieces, and then toss with the squash and sage.  Season to taste, and serve warm!  Serve the garlic with a side of warm French bread!

Spring officially arrived a few weeks back, but from the look of it here in St. Louis, you would never know it.  Between a light snowstorm to start the week, and freezing rain at week’s end, the thaw of Spring remains in hiding.  Given the wintry conditions, I decided a few winter vegetables would make a suitable side.

Roasting over high heat gives the vegetables a crisp outer skin while keeping the inner flesh moist.  The  high heat also serves to caramelize the natural sugars in the sweet potatoes and carrots, for a sweet, yet healthy, cold-weather treat.

If you like, you can also add a few turnips and parsnips.

Roasted Winter Vegetables

PREP TIME: 20 minutes
COOK TIME: 30 minutes
YIELD: Serves 4 to 6

WHAT TO GRAB:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 sweet potatoes
1 large butternut squash
6 carrots
4 turnips (optional)
4 parsnips (optional)
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Peel the vegetables and cut them into 1-inch cubes.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegetable cubes, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Mix well, so that the cubes are well-coated with the oil, salt, and pepper.

3.  Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes, turning the vegetables over halfway through.  (If you need two baking sheets, try and make sure that the baking sheets are not positioned one on top of the other inside the oven.  Otherwise, the top vegetables may not caramelize.)

4.  After 30 minutes, toss the vegetables with the parsley and serve warm!

Couscous is not a grain, as you might think, but a semolina paste.  In fact, couscous is made from the same wheat semolina flour used to make commercial spaghetti.

Couscous originated in the Maghreb, today’s North Africa, and owes its origins to the Berbers, an indigenous people of the region.  The Saracen conquest of Europe in the 7th and 8th Centuries is believed to have introduced the dish to the Western world.

Owing to its origins, couscous is often served with lamb or chicken, and may also be sprinkled with raisins or almonds.   “Couscous aux sept legumes,” or couscous with seven vegetables, is the most common couscous dish in Morocco.  This dish, adapted from a few sources, is modeled after “couscous aux sept legumes.”

Speaking of Moroccan Couscous, the New York Times just named Marrakesh its culinary destination of the year.

Moroccan Couscous

WHAT TO GRAB:
2 large butternut squash, peeled and diced
2 yellow onions, chopped and diced
12 carrots, peeled and diced
3 medium zucchini, diced
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 cups couscous
3 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
1/3 cup chopped almonds (optional)
Salt and pepper

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Place the squash, carrots, zucchini, and yellow onions in a large baking sheet.  Toss the  vegetables with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  To prevent overcrowding, I like to divide the vegetables in half, and use two baking sheets.  Roast the vegetables for 25 to 30 minutes, tossing the vegetables midway through.

3.  While the vegetables are roasting, bring the broth to a boil in a small saucepan.  Add the butter and cumin, and allow the mixture to seep, off the heat, until the vegetables are done.

4.  In a large, heatproof, mixing bowl, add the couscous and vegetables.

5.  Bring the broth to a boil, and pour the broth over the couscous.  Cover immediately with foil, for 15 to 20 minutes.

6.  Add the scallions, raisins and almonds (if desired), and season with salt and pepper.

7.  Fluff lightly with a fork, and serve!