Butternut Squash Panini

You remember how there were no butternut squashes at Whole Foods yesterday? Of course you do - and I appreciate your righteous indignation on my behalf. Well today I tried my luck at Trader Joe's, and guess what?!

Yeah, that's right: NO BUTTERNUT SQUASHES. Dizzy with visions of a squash conspiracy, I plunged into the produce section of Stop-and-Shop, and thank the merciful heavens, they had a whole bin of them. It almost seemed a pity to purchase only one.

Tonight's recipe was based on Roasted Butternut Squash Panini from the "Oh My Veggies" blog, but I altered it enough that I'm going to give you my version below. In short, I felt the sandwiches needed more crunch and tang than the original recipe suggested. Incidentally, having tried pine nuts in my own version tonight, I feel they actually weren't crunchy enough, and would suggest trying sunflower seeds instead. Let me know if that works for you!

Despite still needing more crunch, the sandwiches were very tasty.

I wrote a blog once, years ago when I first moved to New York, about eating in the city. I quickly found that one challenge was overusing the word "delicious," and I'm falling into the same trap with this blog. There are only so many non-hyperbolic ways that you can express that food tastes good.

After bringing you the bad news a couple days ago about dairy's impact on the environment, I bought some unsweetened vanilla "coconut milk beverage," whatever that means. This morning I made my hot chocolate with half regular milk and half the coconut stuff, and it was--here's that word again--delicious! It did taste coconuty but I have always liked that flavor. So there's hope for decreasing my reliance on dairy.

Roasted Butternut Squash Panini

Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 tablespoon olive oil + additional olive oil to brush on bread
Handful of pine nuts (see my note above)
Balsamic or other vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh sage, sliced into thin ribbons
Roughly 4 oz of sharp cheddar
8 thick slices of good bread

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Brush the butternut squash slices with olive oil and place them on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Bake 40-45 minutes or until tender and just beginning to brown on edges, turning halfway through cooking time.

Preheat panini press to medium-high heat. You could also cook these in a pan or griddle, but you'll want something to press them down so the melty cheese holds all the components together.

Brush one side of each slice of bread with olive oil, and then sprinkle the other side with balsamic vinegar. Divide the squash, cheese, nuts/seeds and sage evenly onto the non-oiled sides of 4 bread slices. Top with remaining slices of bread and grill until golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Brush the outsides of the bread pieces with olive oil, and dot the insides with vinegar.

Toast some pine nuts

Place cheese, pine nuts, and sage on your bread.

The roasted squash pieces go on top.

A sandwich press makes great panini.  Side note: "panini" is plural. Don't ever say, "I ate a panini." That's like saying, "I ate a sandwiches." The singular is panino. Grazie!