Best Butternut Squash Recipes

Give the season's favorite vegetable a Mexican twist with this savory picadillo recipe by Aarón Sanchez. 

Even Downton Abbey has its cold, damp evenings, and with such a large house one is sure to catch the shivers now and then. Fortunately, this thick and creamy soup is sure to warm up the most frigid of guests! Perhaps Daisy, after witnessing the dead body of Pamuk, would see if there were any leftovers of this soup available to warm her chilled spirits.

When you make this recipe for the first time, you’re going to serve up these little pillows of fresh pasta dough filled with brown buttery butternut squash purée and everyone’s going to stare at you. They’re going to look from you back to the plate and back to you and they’re going to be thinking, "How in the world did [insert your name here] make this?" What you’ll know that they won’t is, really, once you get the pasta-making technique down, the rest is shockingly easy. I suggest making the filling first and the pasta dough second so the dough doesn’t dry out. And make lots and lots of pasta, more than you think you’ll need, because whatever you don’t boil now, you can freeze for later. Then, whenever you want to awe dinner guests with your culinary prowess, you just have to open your freezer and boil some water. The rest takes care of itself. 

You can't go wrong with risotto, or roasted butternut squash for that matter, but to make this recipe extra special, I gave the squash a sugary treatment and fired all decadent engines with the risotto. It's not exactly diet-friendly, but boy is it good.

I love the way the flavors come together in this recipe and just as important, it’s EASY to whip up! The two key ingredients can be found in the frozen section at your local grocery store. Throw it together with some eggs and seasoning and you get a fancy tasting, fast making latke!