Mashed Butternut Squash Gratin; getting stuck in Spain

Butternut squash are big.

Well, at least the ones I grow in my garden are big. They usually supply us with a vegetable side dish for 3 or 4 meals.

A little advance planning makes at least one of those easy.

You can either use steamed or roasted butternut squash – or the leftovers from mashed squash for this gratin.

To cook butternut squash peel it and remove the seeds. Cut it into pieces and steam for 10 – 15 minutes or roast for 20 – 25, either way cook until tender when pierced with a fork.

Using mashed squash makes the gratin lighter, almost like a souffle.

Print Recipe

We didn’t spend all of our time with the dogs when we were in Spain. We spent one day driving through the foothills to buy wine.

Don’t tell anyone but I actually prefer Spanish rosados to French rosés.

And one can buy excellent Spanish white wine for less then an excellent French white wine.

Plus it’s nice to have something different. I even bought some crianzas (reds).

I love driving through Spain. It’s different than France.

There are lots of interesting rock formations….

Moorish castles on the hilltops….

And churches in the valleys.

After we visited a few bodegas, did a bit of tasting and filled the car with wine (our friend was buying, too) we went into a town for lunch.

Driving in Spanish towns is different than driving in French towns.

We have never gotten stuck in a French town.

We have gotten stuck in several Spanish towns.

Okay, not really stuck, as we have always managed to extricate ourselves, but it’s not always easy.

Let me explain…

Spanish towns in the foothills and mountains tend to have narrow streets in the older parts. Those streets tend to be one way. Sometimes one has no choice but to turn onto a narrow street.

When driving on the really narrow streets the buildings open up right onto the street. There are no sidewalks and sometimes one has to fold in the side mirrors on the car.

If there is a pedestrian on the street one has to follow, slowly, until the person can step into a doorway deep enough for the car to pass.

There is never any place to turn around and the buildings are high enough that one has no idea what’s around the next corner…..

Which is the problem – not the fact that one can’t see but the fact that there’s a corner. It’s very worrying to see a wall at the end of the street and have no idea if there is a corner or not.

Here is a rough illustration:

 The corners aren’t curved, like on the right, but at a sharp right angle, as on the left.

I’ve drawn in our car. As you can see, it’s too big to turn the corner.

We couldn’t back up – it’s a one way street, and a very long, windy one way street at that.

We couldn’t get out of the car to see what was ahead as we couldn’t open the doors.

That fact also precluded putting a For Sale sign on it and abandoning it which was my choice.

Fortunately, mon mari has been in this situation a few times in the past.

Forward 2 inches, turn wheels, backward 2 inches, turn wheels.

Repeat forever.

Actually, it only took about 10 minutes but it seemed like forever.

There was a metal plate on the corner to protect it from cars.