I love butternut squash—but if I’m being honest, sometimes the prospect of breaking down and cooking the whole vegetable can be a bit overwhelming. But that’s where this simple dish from Carla Lalli Music’s newest book, That Sounds So Good, comes in—and yeah, it seriously sounds so good.
“I don’t know what it is about green and orange foods together, but it’s a combination I always crave when I want to eat well, especially in the colder months,” she writes. “The grounding nature of butternut squash and sturdy greens, along with the crunch of the seeds and belly-warming spices in this dish, never gets old.”
If you’re not a butternut squash person, Lalli Music says you can swap in acorn, koginut, or honeynut squash instead—and you may not even need to peel them. In fact, she writes, “I usually don’t peel the squash, but if the skin feels especially thick or waxy to you, take it off.” You can also use any type of kale, though she warns that if you use curly kale you may need only half a bunch because they tend to be larger.
She offers swaps for many of the ingredients, too, which also makes this recipe perfect for tossing together even if you haven’t planned on it. Don’t have rice vinegar? Try lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Don’t have the right seeds? Try pepitas, slivered almonds, and/or chopped hazelnuts. Plus, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, or coriander seeds can replace the mustard seeds.
15-Minute Roasted Squash With Spicy Greens & Yogurt
Reprinted from That Sounds So Good by Carla Lalli Music. Copyright © 2021 by Carla Lalli Music. Photographs copyright © 2021 by Andrea Gentl and Martin Hyers. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.