Butternut Squash and Poblano Gratin

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This dish is really good. I mean, reallllllllllly good. If I were  hosting Thanksgiving this year, I’m pretty sure it would make it on the menu.

I wanted to take pictures of the leftovers the following day when I had some natural light, but that plan went out the window when I decided to top the leftovers with an egg and call it (a damn good) breakfast.

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time, but had to wait until it was this time of year again and butternut squash was again in season to make it. It absolutely did not disappoint. This gratin tastes sort of like a chili relleno in casserole form, which is good news for me. It has some earthiness and spice from the poblano peppers, a little sweetness from the squash, gooeyness (official foodie term) from cheese, and crunch from the toasted pepitas.

My market did have farmer cheese, but  it was only sold in a 1 lb. package, so I decided to just use queso fresco, since I had no plans for the remaining farmer cheese. Really, many blends of cheese would work here, and the goat cheese Carrie used would be really lovely, no doubt.

This is not a particularly healthy dish but you can make it slightly less horrible, which I did. I used whole milk in place of cream, reduced the amount of olive oil (by a lot) and cheese (by a little), used a 2% Colby Jack, and light sour cream.

The result was one of my absolute favorite side dishes (and breakfasts), though I have no doubt that adding a can of  black beans to this would make for a fantastic vegetarian meal, too.

 

Butternut Squash and Poblano Gratin

14 thoughts on “Butternut Squash and Poblano Gratin

  1. My parents are hosting Thanksgiving, which really means that I will be cooking everything but the turkey. I’m not quite sure they realize they’re getting a mostly-vegetarian thanksgiving this year lol! I love that I could turn this into a veg entree! It has all of my favorite flavors!

  2. Elly – this looks mouthwatering and delicious. I too will be bookmarking it to try sometime SOON! Your blog has been such an inspiration to me – you do beautiful – and delicious – work!

  3. Great idea! That’s actually the first gratin using butternut squash I see this season, and now I’m wondering why I hadn’t thought of doing this! Will try your recipe, thanks for sharing 🙂

  4. This was fantastic! For me and my husband at least! I was hoping I could tempt the kids into loving butternut squash like I do, but no such luck. 🙁 I actually really like this as an addition to Thanksgiving dinner too. Not traditional, but delicious all the same!

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