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Made my last butternut squash into soup last night which was great  ;D but am now very sad  :'(

I was sure I had enough to last me through until the next season when I was picking them all but alas - unless I have just decided that I love them so much I am eating ridiculous amounts of them.  That means that the whole lottie could be devoted to growing them.  arrrgghhh, stop me, stop me.......

Oh, hi again by the way, have been off for a while as I was moving house - not that that is any excuse - and moving squashes, and chickens, oh yes, and partner and child - nearly forgot them  ;)

We're the same here, one squash left and then that's it. I looked at the butternut in the supermarket this week but couldn't bring myself to buying one.

I know exactly what you mean.  It's just not the same is it!

Jesse ;)
              WELL DONE FOR RESISTING THE URGE TO BUY  ;D

Going to try them this Season....but the Garden is over shadowed by the
next Doors Fir Trees Some 35/40 High all around his property.
Cant complain because his is Private and we are from the Gemeente [Council].....plus he water my Garden in the Summer from his Well :D

Most of the Day the Garden is in the Shade!!

The only thing stopping me Buying one to try is we havnt got a Blender yet
;D ;D ;D                           
                                              Mike

Mike - you could always just roast it with a sprinking of chilli flakes and olive oil and eat it like that.  Actually, this is how most of mine start out and then the next day I soup it. Yum!  :)

Lazy Bones ;)
                        Hi....Interesting Tell me More.
  Preparation and Cooking ie Roasting Time ...In Quarters -Half -Chunks

Would love to try one before I grow them....Thanks Mike

Mike

Basically you can do what you like to it and it's still tastes fantastic.  All I do is cut whole squash into large chunks (keep skin on) and throw in a roasting tray with about 1 tsp chilli flakes and enough olive oil to coat.  Then get your hands in and mix so all is covered, throw in oven at 200 degrees for about 45 mins until everything is yummy and brown and hey presto, an instant accompaniment to absolutely anything.  Beware of the chilli flakes though - the heat seems to be rather intensified after cooking!  Oh, and I only leave the skin on as I hate peeling them and it means that you can scrape every last bit off when it's cooked.  You can also chuck into the roasting pan either shallots or chopped onions (although yet again I have run out of home-grown onions) and that way if you have any squash leftover (and when you buy your blender) you don't even have to sweat off an onion to make it into soup, just add stock.

;D

The state of the supermarket ones is woeful isn't it? I unfortunately had to buy 3 pathetic little pear-sized butternuts last weekend and they tasted of nothing much  >:(

Back to the farmers market next time I think. Hopefully they still have some.

Lazybones can I suggest you try Crown Prince, Queensland Blue or Marina De Choggia - they also roast up beautifully. And if you get bored of soup, I have a recipe for pumpkin and ricotta lasagne that is very yummy. It will probably take a long time to get bored of pumpkin soup though  ;D

Moggle I've just ordered some Marina De Choggia seeds so very pleased to hear you say they roast up well :)

As for recipes they're endless, you can also make pumpkin curry and use butternut in risotto, or even just mashed with lots of pepper and butter and served with bangers and mash with roasted onion gravy....I'm going to have to stop there, I'm getting hungry now! ;D

Thanks Moggle - that sound v. nice.  Might broaden my horizons a bit further than butternut and plain old pumpkin this year - but hey, the seeds were free!  My OH bought me the Silver Spoon cookbook for b-day and it has a fantastic recipe for parmesan pumpkin which was absolutely fantastic and suited my diet very well with about a ton of parmesan and mozarella, oh and there was definitely a pumpkin in there somewhere.  

Actually, there's a recommendation of a cookery book if ever you needed one - it is right up my street and tells you loads of different ways of cooking absolutely everything (and I mean everything).  It took me about a week to read through it the first time.

I'm off the eat the last of the soup now.  Starvin!

Oh come on Girls ;D ;D ;D

Mouth is watering here.....dont know if I can Find them here in Uden this Time of the  Year
But will check out Supermarket at the Weekend....if successful will try it
Thanks a lot everyone.
                                     Mike

There's still some coconuts in GB, Mike.

I have some butternut squash seeds (not sure of variety as they are not here) - any tips for a newbie on how to grow.  I'm in the process of planning my plot so how much land should I put aside for them and the courgettes - I seem to remember reading a lot!

Do you start them off indoors or straight out (I'm in Cambridgeshire) and when.  I'm also guessing lots of water?

Just love BNS roasted and I have to confess to parting with £1.60 for a tiny organic one in tescos today!   :-\

Steamed my last one last night. Took the seeds out of the squash and dried them on kitchen paper. 2 where dark in coulour and kind a like an apple pip in texture and colour but bigger. The other 10 or so where lighter in colour and dried seed looking already. SOOOOO will I have succes if I sow these seeds. I am gonna try anyway but...................any recommendations would be welcome

maggie, squash are promiscuous plants i.e. they will cross pollinate very easiy so although you've saved the seeds from your butternut there's a good chance they will have cross pollinated with another type of squash and what you grow this year from your saved seeds might not turn out to be a true butternut. I did this once and the result was a watery tasteless squash. Take a look at this page (scroll to the bottom) to see how to save seeds and grow from your saved seeds:

http://www.vidaverde.co.uk/wintersquash.html

ps....forgot to say that growing from shop saved seeds (I did last year with butternut) is often okay as they've been mass grown and the chances are the only other squash in the vacinity are of the same type, unlike on an allotment where all sorts are grown.

Quote from: amanda21 on January 20, 2006, 12:39:19
Do you start them off indoors or straight out (I'm in Cambridgeshire) and when.  I'm also guessing lots of water?

They need a long growing season, so they are best started in pots in about April - same time as you'd start courgettes. I'd suggest a nice big pot, mine seemed to outgrow their 10cm pots quite quickly last year. They like very rich soil, so if you have some manure, add a bunch to the planting hole. Watch for slugs - they got my first batch  :'(

Thanks Jesse will buy seeds then. I hadn't realised how well they kept either. What else has such good keeping qualities.

Thanks Moggle - can't wait for my own!  (She hopes!)

I planted seeds from a bought butternut last year and they all turned out fine.  I think that if you have lots of space, give them a go and see what you get.  I'm sure it was more luck than judgement.

Also, another thing to remember is that when you pot them up make sure you label them - last year, I had no idea which were courgettes and which were squash until I put them in the ground down the lottie.  A bit muddled - yep  ;D  Still, all tasted good though!

I had one crown prince which was consumed recently. It was cooked by two methods, roasting and boiling. The flavour was outstanding by both methods, although boiling and then mashing with flora was marginally better.