Thanksgiving...My Favorite Food Holiday

I love Thanksgiving.  Many Chef's hate it.  The turkey is the main reason why.  To me....it's the smell of roasting meat and all the incredible side dishes that accompany it.  It's a lot of work to come up with a menu.  My main goal when creating the meal is to maintain balance.  That means adding some crunch to a dish, using some acidity to cut through the fatty heavy foods and of course butter.  Below is one great recipe I did on eightWest a number of years ago.  I still love making it.  Using local butternut squash and baking it twice changes up the usual soft and overly sweet yams with marshmallows.  Enjoy!

Twice Baked Butternut Squash
1 Large Butternut squash
½ onion diced
6 Slices bacon
2 Cloves of garlic
¾ cup whole milk
6 oz goat cheese
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
2 cups bread crumbs
½ stick of butter
2 TB chopped parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ancho chili powder
 
Directions:  Heat oven to 350.  Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds.  Coat cookie sheet with non stick spray and cook squash until soft (aprox. 30 minutes).  Remove from oven and let cool.
 
Cut bacon into thin strips.  On medium high heat, place a 5 qt pan on stove.  Add bacon and cook.  Keep stirring until bacon is crispy, remove bacon with slotted spoon on to a paper towel.  Add onion and garlic into bacon greased pan and saute until softened. 
 
Scoop out butternut squash and add to pan with onions and garlic.  Add milk, salt, pepper, and goat cheese.  Puree the mix, once smooth, fold in bacon.
 
In microwave, melt butter.  In a bowl, add bread crumbs, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder and ancho chili powder.  Pour melted butter over bread crumbs and mix.
 
In a greased 9 x 13 pan, add sweet potato mix, top with bread crumbs and bake until top is golden brown.  Serve immediately.