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Roasted Butternut Squash with Cumin Seeds, Feta and Pistachios
This flavor-packed winter squash side dish is an adaptation of a recipe from “365: A Year of Everyday Cooking and Baking” by Meike Peters, an award-winning cookbook author and food blogger. The subtle earthy sweetness and velvety texture of roasted butternut is a backdrop for vibrant accents: smoky, savory cumin; salty, briny feta; and nutty, crunchy pistachios. We like the flavor pop of lightly crushed cumin seeds; a mortar and pestle are a low-tech way to crush the seeds, or you can pulse them a few times in an electric spice grinder. Mixing the feta with a few tablespoons of heavy cream is an unusual technique, but the cream lends the dryish, crumbly cheese an unctuousness that helps tie everything together.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t use precrumbled feta, as it lacks flavor and does not combine well with the cream. Also, don’t use milk or half-and-half in place of the cream; their lower fat content will cause them to curdle when mixed with the lime juice. Finally, don’t make the feta-cream mixture until the squash has been transferred to the serving platter. If left to stand for too long, the feta absorbs the moisture and the mixture loses its creaminess.
50 minutes
20 minutes active
Ingredients
-
¼
cup extra-virgin olive oil
-
2
teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly crushed
Directions
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01Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, cumin, sugar, ¾ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Add the squash and toss. Distribute in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet, then pour any oil remaining in the bowl over the squash. Roast until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the largest piece meets no resistance, 35 to 40 minutes.
Reviews
November 23, 2025
New tradition
Thanksgiving side to beat all!
October 4, 2025
A keeper
So good! My husband and I had this as our entire dinner meal. Nothing more was needed. We'll be having this often.
January 7, 2023
So simple, but SO GOOD!
This recipe is amazing. Seems like the heavy cream would be too much, but it's essential and delicious.
October 16, 2022
LOVE!
So easy to make! And so delicious. I add extra cumin seeds and brown sugar on the squash before putting it in the oven. It pairs so nicely with a protein like chicken. The sweetness of the squash and the freshness / acidity of the feta - LOVE it!
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While delicious, the 1.5 teaspoons of salt was too much with the saltiness of the feta. I would dial it back to .5 tsp.