#butternut-squash

#butternut-squash

There are few things more comforting on a cold fall evening than pulling a warm dish out of the oven. This fall sheet pan gnocchi and squash bake, with its tender textures and sweet, savory, and roasty flavors, will fill your kitchen with tempting autumnal scents. With the brown-butter-fried sage and a rich, creamy white wine sauce, this sheet-pan dish might be the best way to eat pasta.

Lidia Bastianich notes that the traditional filling of pumpkin ravioli is simple. Instead of the traditional roasted Mantova squash, she uses butternut here and says it's a good substitute. She also uses crushed amaretti cookies, breadcrumbs, eggs, and grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano, so the filling is not too sweet. In the northern Italian city of Mantova, they add mostarda di Mantova, a chutney of preserved local fruit in syrup.

Whole, unpeeled butternut squash typically last about three months, however, ensuring the longest shelf-life for your squash begins with knowing how to pick them. Always buy in season, from late summer through early winter (peak ripeness is from September through November). They should be hard all around - no mushy spots and free of any deep cuts or gashes (light scuffs are fine).

Most people have a favorite comfort food, a dish they turn to for relief after a long, tough week, or just to warm their belly on a cold winter day. Celebrity chefs are no exception. From tried-and-true comfort classics like grilled cheese with tomato soup, mashed potatoes with gravy, or butter noodles, to less common picks like cherrystone clams, celebrity chef comfort food has no rules as long as it's soothing.

It would not be an overstatement to say fall is the greatest time of year at Trader Joe's when everyone's favorite comforting and cheesy treats return for their short seasonal run. While fall products at most places mean pumpkin spice and apple, Trader Joe's seasonal fall items embrace every flavor the season has to offer. There is plenty of pumpkin, of course, but fall also sees new maple products, unique cheeses, and any vegetable you could reasonably slap the word "harvest" on to.