Serves 6
Sink your fork into a slice of Charbroiled Butternut Squash, and then scoop up some saucy black beans in a spicy ranchero sauce. It is not unlike a little bite of autumn heaven in Mexico. If Mexico had the kind of autumn that New England does. But instead of wrapping your head around that, just wrap your tastebuds around this recipe. Ooh, and you can serve with guacamole, too. For perfect timing, just start the squash recipe before starting the ranchero sauce. And remember to be careful when handling jalapenos! Don’t touch the seeds and definitely don’t touch your eyes after handling.
1 recipe Charbroiled Butternut Squash
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons oil
1 yellow onion, diced medium
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp maple syrup or agave
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Sliced scallions to serve
Preheat a large heavy bottomed pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Dry toast the seeds in the pan for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until they’re fragrant and a few shades darker, just be careful not to burn. Raise the heat to medium high, add the oil and saute the onion, peppers and garlic for about 10 minutes, until onions are browned. Add the tomato sauce, salt and syrup and cook for about 5 minutes.
Transfer to the blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If using a blender, intermittently lift the lid to let steam escape so that it doesn’t build up and explode and kill you.
Return sauce to the pan and add beans. Cook over medium heat until heated through, about 5 minutes.
To plate:
If you’ve got some large shallow bowls they would be perfect to use here. Pour a layer of saucy beans in the bowl and top off with 2 or 3 slices of squash. Garnish with scallions.
Making this Saturday night for a friend, can’t wait..
Tried it again, and I don’t know what I did wrong the first time– but the second time was FANTASTIC. Didn’t have a jalepeno, used a serrano pepper and some red chile pepper flakes. WAS DELICIOUS. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Loved this! The sweet yet spicy sauce was so good. I think it would make a great pizza sauce for a mexican pizza with roasted red peppers, corn, black beans, etc. And I agree with the polenta idea, can’t wait to try this.
This is so great! I made it with less oil and it still turned out fantastic. Also, I highly recommend taking the butternut seeds (I put them in a strainer and kind of massage the pulp out of them), tossing them with a little oil and salt, and putting them in the oven for the last 15 minutes when you are roasting the squash – they make a delicious topping along with the scallions!
Yum! I made a tofu omelet, stuffed it with the butternut squash, and poured this saue over it. It was delicious.
So good. I used powdered cumin and coriander (1tsp, 1+ tsp respectively) and subbed chipotle (3peppers) with 1tsp adobo. Also 2 hefty heirloom tomatoes plus 1 tsp tomato paste for the tomato sauce. Why would I ever make butternut squash another way after this?
This was wonderful… used sweet potatoes and a baby butternut squash!
This was soooo good. Wow.
This was nice. Not really sure what I was expecting but I nice Mexican dinner. Thank you for another fabulous way to eat squash!
Just made this tonight – seriously one of the best vegan meals I’ve eaten EVER. Even my carnivore hubby said to me, “Hey, this is really good.” And that is coming from someone who almost never compliments my cooking, LOL. Love all of Isa’s recipes I’ve tried and this one was just fantastic. Toasting whole spices, I think, is what brings the dish together. I wouldn’t skip this step. Ground spices are fine in a pinch, but if you’ve never toasted and ground your own spices, do try it. Your belly will thank you 🙂
just made for the 3rd time since this was posted… always so delicious!
So far, this has been a BIG hit with everyone I’ve served it to, meat eaters and vegans alike!! So amazing I thought “how about doing this as a tamale filling?”, turned out amazing! I’ve tried many of your recipes and they are all super mega hits!! Thank you!
Seriously one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I literally licked the plate. I was a bit concerned home alone putting everything in the blender, but just made sure to let the steam out every so often.
These are wonderful YUMMERS