Butternut Squash "Fries"

One of my purchases on our last trip to the (fabulous) South Bend Farmers' Market was a butternut squash. I don't think I'd ever had butternut squash until this summer. I wasn't a huge fan of it just roasted, since the texture is so similar to sweet potato. I made soup out of it this summer, though (after discovering that I didn't care for it in solid form), and it was delicious. I'd planned to make soup again with this one, but I saw an idea for oven-baked "fries" that looked intriguing.

It was absolutely delicious. There's not much to the "recipe" -- just peel and cut half of a butternut squash into french fry-sized pieces (smaller worked better for me, since bigger pieces stay mushy/sweet potato-y in the middle; smaller pieces get crispier). Lay the pieces out on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil, and salt generously. Bake them at 425 for 40 minutes (flipping them at the 20 minute mark).

Paul and I enjoyed half of the squash as a late-night snack, and I had the other half (all by myself) for lunch a couple of days later. I'd thought I'd make soup with that second half, but the "fries" were so good that I decided to go with the healthier option (since the soup involves heavy cream, I don't think there's much of a question that the oven-baked "fries" were a better choice, nutritionally). Peeling the squash is sort of a pain, since the skin is so tough, but the resulting snack (or light meal...) was well worth the trouble.