Butternut Squash Help?

Question

I'm making butternut squash and sausage soup and in the past I've used a whole squash and baked it to soften the meat. This time I have a bag of pre-shelled and cubed chunks of the meat and I'm not sure how to soften them or heat them through without drying it out. I don't want to boil them so that the meat stays fully flavored and rich and I'm afraid baking them will just make a brown crust around the chunks and dry them out. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Bake in a dish just large enough to accomodate them (that you can cover) with oiled parchment beneath the pieces. You could put a ramekin of water in the center of the dish, too. Other options would be steaming them or use a pressure cooker, perhaps.

Answer 2

Butternut squash soup is my favourite soup. Just cut up an onion, a small potato, half a carrot and about 2 handfuls of chopped butternut squash, cook in 2 pints of vegetable stock until soft. Then put in a food processor and hey presto - a lovely smooth soup which serves about 3 or 4 people. I usually eat it with bread to make it more of a meal.

Answer 3

Microwave them or steam them. You can microwave them in a plastic bag. They now have special steaming bags you can buy for this. They seem to stand up to the heat better.

Otherwise steam them or bake them covered to avoid browning. Actually, I think browning would just add flavor.
.
The soup sounds good, though.

Answer 4

Put them in a covered microwave safe dish and cook them in the microwave, without water.

Answer 5

Steam them.