Veuve Clicquot Champagne

This was the weekend of visiting friends. Dave Barclay was in town visiting from the beautiful surf city of San Diego and Katie was visiting, as she often does, from Vancouver. Jeremy and I had them over for dinner to enjoy a meal and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. Popping open the bottle was a long time coming, we've had for a few years now, waiting for just the right occasion.

I made this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Maple-Thyme Butter from John Bishop's cookbook Simply Bishop's: Easy Seasonal Recipes. This is one of those cookbooks where every recipe turns out perfectly, this recipe included. For this recipe, you can either cut the squash in half or quarters and drizzle the melted butter, maple syrup and thyme on the top- or chop the squash into bite size pieces and roast the squash and sauce together. Either way, this is a winning combination of flavours.


Roasted Butternut Squash with Maple-Thyme Butter (serves 4)

Ingredients
1 pound butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
1/2 cup stock or water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven at 400 degrees.

Peel squash and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard seeds, cutting the squash into bite sized squares.

In a ovenproof dish, melt the butter, maple syrup and thyme.

Add squash, salt and pepper, the stock or water and bring to a simmer. Cover and bake in the oven until soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot out of the oven.