Chicken and Butternut Squash (Alternate title: How I received my first chopping-related blister)

I find a recipe (online most of the time) that sounds great. Then I go to make it and realize that I forgot to buy an ingredient or two or just don’t feel like making it the way the recipe calls for. I suppose that means I just take recipes as inspiration and adapt them to fit my desires.

So this recipe that I’m about share with you that I’m blandly calling “Chicken and Butternut Squash” was inspired by this Butternut Squash Gratin recipe on Epicurious. The spirit is the same, but most of the ingredients — and the method — are different.

The great thing about this dish is that if you just cook up some rice, which we did, you have almost a one-dish meal (almost, I said. Almost).

However, I cut up a butternut squash for the first time (versus buying it pre-cut or roasting it first) and I actually got a blister on the bottom of the pointer finger from it. It’s quite painful! Do you think I file for worker's comp? 

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Chicken and Butternut Squash

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (They sell it like this, you don’t have to butcher it yourself)
1 butternut squash
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts
1 package sage, chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup light cream
4 ounces goat cheese, sliced or crumbled
Your choice of dried herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, etc.)

Cut the butternut squash into chunks, doing your best not to get a blister. Alternatively, buy pre-cut squash, which is what I’ll be doing from now on. Here’s a smart way to peel and chop a squash, which I did not follow.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the squash around the edges of a large roasting pan. Arrange the chicken pieces in the middle of the pan and drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. Sprinkle on your choice of herbs — I used a delicious French herbs mixture that I was given as a gift, but any of your favorites will do — and add the cranberry and walnuts wherever there is room. Drizzle the cream over the mixture; it just adds a little richness to the final dish.

Put the pan in the oven and roast for  30 minutes, or until the squash is tender and the chicken’s skin is crispy. Sprinkle the goat cheese and sage over the dish and return the pan to the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the goat cheese is slightly melted. Serve immediately with rice or broccoli.