On Saturday, I baked two buttercup squash purchased from Farmer Kev. (Thank you, Farmer Kev, for all the fresh, clean organic vegetables you delivered all summer long.)

I baked them at 375° for about an hour, until they were very soft, and when the it had all cooled, I scooped out the soft squash and mashed it until it was smooth. Then, using a tried and true pumpkin bread recipe from Betty Crocker, I substituted the squash for the pumpkin, and made two loaves of bread, which went into the freezer. I’ll be taking them out on Thanksgiving morning.

But then I found I had some leftover squash, about a cup and half.

What to do? Why, make a squash side dish to go with dinner that night. I chopped four sage leaves and set them aside.

In a small saucepan, I melted 1/2 tablespoon of butter in 1/4 cup of milk and added them to the cooked squash, beating the mixture until it was nice and smooth. Then, in another small sauce pan, I melted 1 tablespoon of butter, added the chopped sage leaves, and let the butter turn a beautiful brown while the sage leaves became crisp. This took several minutes and constant watching. You want browned butter, not burnt butter. I put the squash in little individual dishes, drizzled the sage butter on top, and baked it for 30 minutes or so at 375°.

Looks a little messy, I know, but it was oh-so-good. It would be easy to increase this squash recipe so that a casserole dish would be filled rather than an individual dish.

‘Tis the season for winter squash. So stock up and cook!