Butternut Squash

Why I grow it

I grow butternut every year. It's reliable, delicious and, properly cured, stores beautifully — ours keep us supplied through winter long after the summer garden has finished producing.

That's a big part of why I grow it. I love plants that don't just give us food during their growing season, but become part of what we eat months later.

And in our kitchen, butternut has one particularly important job: it's the basis of one of our favourite fillings for homemade tortellini.

At a glance

Type: Winter squash
Fruit: Pear-shaped with buff-coloured skin
Flesh: Deep orange, dense and sweet
Growth: Trailing vine
Position: Full sun
Best for: Roasting, soups, pasta fillings and storing
Storage: Excellent when fully mature and properly cured

In the kitchen

Butternut is one of those vegetables I could probably find a use for every week through winter. Roast it until the edges caramelise, turn it into soup, mash it, add it to curries and risottos, or use the sweet dense flesh in baking.

Butternut Tortellini

This is one of our favourite reasons for having butternut stored through winter. We make fresh pasta, fill it with roasted butternut, ricotta, parmesan and nutmeg, then toss the cooked tortellini through shallots, sage, chilli and butter.

For the filling

• 1.2 kg butternut squash
• Olive oil
• 250 g ricotta
• 30 g parmesan, finely grated
• Ground nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt

You'll also need fresh pasta dough made with Tipo 00 flour.

Roast the butternut with a little olive oil until completely tender and beginning to caramelise. Let it cool, then combine the flesh with the ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, pepper and a pinch of salt.

Transfer the filling to a piping bag. This isn't just chef faffing about — it makes controlling the amount of filling considerably easier.

Roll the pasta dough thinly and cut into circles. Pipe a blob of filling into the centre of each one, fold the pasta in half and pinch firmly around the edges to seal. A little water around the edge helps if the dough doesn't want to cooperate.

You can leave them as little half-moons or bring the two corners together to make the traditional bishop's-hat shape.

To finish

• Shallot, finely chopped
• Fresh sage leaves
• Olive oil
• A good knob of butter
• Chilli flakes
• Parmesan — heaps
• A little pasta cooking water

Drop the tortellini into boiling salted water and cook for about 2 minutes.

While they're cooking, gently fry the shallot and fresh sage leaves in olive oil. Add a knob of butter and some chilli flakes.

Drain the tortellini, keeping a little of the pasta water, and toss them straight into the pan. Add a splash of cooking water and toss everything together until the pasta is glossy and coated in the buttery sage sauce.

Pile into bowls, grate over an entirely unreasonable quantity of parmesan and eat immediately.

In the garden

Butternut is a trailing squash, so give it room to wander. I let the vines make their way through available space rather than attempting to keep them particularly tidy.

Allow the squash to mature fully on the vine if you're growing it for storage. The skin should become hard and the fruit develop its mature buff colour before harvest.

Harvest & storage

This is one of the main reasons I grow it.

Harvest mature fruit with some stem still attached and cure them somewhere warm, dry and well ventilated before storing them somewhere cool and dry.

Ours store through winter, which means a summer plant continues feeding us months after the vines themselves have disappeared.

Check stored squash occasionally and use any showing damage or soft spots first.

Care

Plant into rich, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun once frost risk has passed. Keep moisture consistent while vines establish and fruit develops, and feed during the growing season.

Give the vines plenty of room and avoid routinely wetting the foliage when watering.

What you'll receive

One healthy, established plant grown here at A Garden Between. Plants naturally vary in size and shape and may be supplied in reused nursery pots or growing bags — perfectly useful plastic doesn't need replacing simply because it doesn't match.