Winter Squash Casserole With Rosemary

If you stab the squash for air vents and put the
squash in the microwave for 5 min depending on the strength of your microwave...it makes it a lot easier to peel and cut. Cutting a hard squash can be dangerous .

There seems to be some variation in cooking times for different squash, and in how large different cooks are cutting the pieces.
If exact times don't help, think about the three stages:
1) Bake, covered, until tender but still firm
2) Uncover and bake until very soft
3) Broil just before serving

Absolutely delicious! The ginger gave some warmth, and the garlic and rosemary were in perfect proportion. I really liked the finished texture, too with a slight bit of golden crunch on the outside like home fries. Made for a lovely presentation. My baking times were 45 minutes covered, and 20 minutes uncovered, but I accidentally cut my cubes slightly smaller. I also used slightly less oil as is my preference. I sprinkled some fresh-grated parmesan on at the very end. Yum! This is a keeper!

Has anyone tried this with sweet potatoes or yams? How is the baking, etc., adjusted if you make it with those veggies rather than winter squash? (Julia- any thoughts?)

The issue of timing has caused problems for 50%+ of note-posters. I made it exactly as suggested as per ingredients. But, I cooked the squash on a sheet pan for 35-mins uncovered at 350 f degrees ~~ and the texture was perfect; then items were placed into a casserole dish for the next day's serving. Final prep was just 15-mins to reheat/finish the dish. Simpler process IMHO.

The cooking time is WAY too long. Cook covered, then uncover at high temp to brown. I cooked covered for an hour, then uncovered for 15 minutes.

Hi. If you press the link to open recipe in your browser the doses show correctly. 1/8 teaspoon for the cornstarch and 1/3 cup for the oil.

I haven't had that problem, but one thing about squash: you have to wait for the oven to be completely hot before putting it in. Otherwise it does become sludgy. I hope that the final baking/broiling, with the dish uncovered, might have solved the liquid problem?

Followed recipe exactly and the cubes came out really gummy. They crisped under the broiler but they were still gummy. I much prefer the conventional roasting method without the flour/cornstarch.

Cubed a butternut squash and left out the flour cornstarch mixture coating, just tossed the cubes on a baking sheet, brushed with a mixture of olive oil-(about a 1/4 cup), added 1 tsp. dried ginger and 6 minced cloves of garlic and dried rosemary pulverized in a pestle/mortar, dash of sea salt and oh man! My daughter and I could not stop nibbling on them before dinner when i took out these cubes of tasty, mouth melting ,swoon-worthy perfection!

Reading all the comments, I decided to make some alterations, which means I didn't really follow the recipe. I'd like to share, though, that I cubed the butternut to 3/4 inch, tossed with oil, the minced rosemary, minced garlic, ginger powder, and s&p. Roasted on sheet pan at 400 for 20 minutes. Very nice result.

Peel delicata squash? How would you do that? It's ribbed and not thick-walled. Besides, the skins are edible, like potato skins. We think of delicata and sweet dumpling as semi-winter squash for that reason--flesh like winter squash but edible skins like summer.

Julia says the cubes are about 1 1/2 inches. There is no need to cut them terribly evenly as they will eventually soften and mix together into rough chunks.

Most winter squash doesn't need to be peeled, and you get more nutrients from the peel. The exceptions seem to be spaghetti squash and squash with very shiny skin. Heres a link to an artcile on this: http://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/peel-winter-squash-skins-article

Clarification is necessary: ? tbsp cornstarch and ? cup plus 2 tbsp olive oil for ingredients??? Sounds more like a crossword puzzle than a recipe! Please advise.