Butternut Squash & Thyme

This is a recipe I found at Kaylins Kitchen & loved! Her recipe calls for parmesan cheese, but when I make it, I sprinkle it with Kosher salt instead. I've been making this every week for a couple of months now, and I'm still not tired of it!

Ingredients:

2 whole & peeled halves of butternut squash
3 Tbs of olive oil
3 Tbs of lemon juice
2 Tbs of Thyme

Preheat the oven to 350

In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice & thyme. let it sit & marinate while you chop the squash into bite sized chunks.

After the squash is chopped, pour the mixture over it and stir well until it's completely coated the squash.


Spray a non-stick baking dish with olive oil & pour in the squash. Sprinkle the top with Kosher salt to taste.

Place in oven & cook for about an hour, or until the squash is tender

Remove from oven & serve.

For the original recipe, please visit Kaylin's Kitchen

I really love cooking with herbs, but I had never used Thyme before this. So I did a little research on Wikipedia and this is what it had to say about how the herb has been used historically :

"Ancient Egyptians used thyme in embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage. It was thought that the spread of thyme throughout Europe was thanks to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs".^[1]. In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares.^[2] In this period, women would also often give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life."

also

"Thyme is a good source of iron and is used widely in cooking. Thyme is a basic ingredient in French, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Syrian, and Turkish cuisines, and in those derived from them. It is also widely used in Arab and Caribbean cuisines.

Thyme is often used to flavour meats, soups and stews. It has a particular affinity to and is often used as a primary flavour with lamb, tomatoes and eggs."

And all this time, I had no idea! It has an interesting aroma that, to me anyway, improves with cooking. So I've defintiely been encouraged to use it more in my cooking.

Unfortunately, my husband doesn't like cooked vegetables (he only eats them raw) and my daughter doesn't like anything with herbs on it. So this is something I pretty much make for myself. Since it makes quite a bit, I bring it to work & share it with my friend Nancy. But it's not expensive to make, it makes enough to last for several meals, and it reheats well.

enjoy!