Courge au Gratin/Squash Casserole

This recipe comes to you via a French cookbook called "Cuisine sans souci," which Sami bought for me at a used cookbook store in Paris probably in the 80s or early 90s. It's a great basic cookbook, without a lot of frills--like most French cookbooks, it assumes you already know how to cook, so the recipes are short. I made the recipe more American by adding cheese.

I think this recipe was designed to be a side dish, but Sami was gone, so the girls and I turned it into a girly main dish. It really is filling enough to take a main role on the plate.

Julia loved this; Claire couldn't or wouldn't finish hers; I liked mine but thought the texture was a bit mushy. That's why I've upped the number of eggs from the original 2 to 3 with an optional 4.

Courge au gratin

2-1/2 lbs. winter squash (I used pumpkin)

Olive or vegetable oil

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

Salt, pepper, nutmeg

Dash Tabasco or other "spiciness enhancer"

1-2/3 c. milk

1 c. grated cheese (I used Comté; a gruyère or sharp cheddar would be nice)

3-4 eggs

2 slices bread, white or wheat

2 T. butter

about an ounce of Parmesan

Heat the oven to 400. Butter a 2-quart gratin or casserole dish and set aside. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds (an ice cream scoop works well for this). Rub the cut side of the squash with the oil and put it on a foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast for about 45 minutes or until nice and soft. You can do this a day or so ahead if you want--just scoop out the squash into a bowl and refrigerate it until you're ready to proceed. If you're proceeding right away, keep the oven on. You can make the sauce while the squash cooks.

The cookbook actually called for "2 cups of thick Béchamel sauce," assuming you knew how to do that. If you do, proceed to make one with the butter, flour, seasonings and milk. Otherwise, get out a heavy smallish saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat until it stops foaming. Add the flour and seasonings and stir for about a minute before gradually whisking in the milk. Heat, whisking almost constantly, until the sauce is bubbly and thickened. Take off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until it melts. OK, now mash up the squash well with a fork, or put it through a sieve or a food mill, or purée it with a food processor (if you do this, make your bread crumbs first--see below). Mix the mashed squash with the cheesy béchamel. Whisk in the eggs one at a time and turn the mixture into the buttered casserole dish.

In a blender or food processor, put the bread (torn into pieces), the butter (cut into 4 pieces), and the Parmesan (broken into crumbles). Pulse that until you have lovely buttered bread crumbs. Sprinkle that on top of your squash mixture.

Put the casserole in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the crumbs are nice and brown and the squash mixture has firmed up a bit. Let rest for about 10 minutes before digging in.