Recipe from Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet
Adapted by Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- 4(166)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This caramelized delicata squash purée, adapted from Nathan Myhrvold's multivolume “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking,” is prepared in a pressure cooker. Normally, a pressure cooker wouldn’t get hot enough to caramelize anything. But, Mr. Myhrvold explained, if you create an alkaline environment with a sprinkle of baking soda, you can caramelize at a lower temperature. And the pressurized environment helps ingredients caramelize through and through, not just around the outside. This gives the squash an intense, nutty flavor, which is enhanced here with buckwheat honey and lemongrass. —Melissa Clark
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Ingredients
Yield:10 servings
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½pounds delicata squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½-inch cubes (4 cups)
- ½lemongrass stalk
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- Buckwheat honey or other honey
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Melt butter in a pressure cooker. Stir in squash, lemongrass, salt and baking soda. Cover tightly with pressure cooker lid and cook at a gauge pressure of 1 bar (15 p.s.i.) for 20 minutes. Begin the timing after the pressure has been reached.
Step
2
Depressurize the cooker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Step
3
Remove lemongrass. Blend the squash to a smooth purée. Season with honey to taste. Serve, or refrigerate and then reheat gently before serving.
Tip
- To double the recipe, cook the squash in two batches.
Ratings
4
out of 5
166
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Cooking Notes
Phil Kalina
The Instant Pot directions say its low pressure setting cooks at 5.8 - 7.2 PSI. Its high pressure is 10.2 - 11.6 PSI. The article at the link Aaron gave says, if using the higher pressure range, to increase cooking times by 7% to 15% for recipes which specify cooking at 15 PSI.
Aaron
Instant Pot maxes out around 15 PSI (see this article: http://instantpot.com/which-electric-pressure-cooker-operates-at-15psi/ )
But, don't be afraid! It's hard to ruin squash, especially with this much butter!
Donna
I always use some liquid--usually water--in the pressure cooker.
How much did you add? There's none listed in the ingredients.
susan
followed recipe. Burned on the bottom. Thought it might without water. Did I miss something??
Raven
Diet requires less butter, so I used half and added 1/4 water. The lemongrass I had on hand was in a spice mix with curry and ginger. Will repeat! 20 minutes on high for instant pot was fine. We licked the pot! Will definitely make again!
Darcy
I doubled the recipe and made it in one batch and it came out great. I mashed it with a fork rather than pureeing it. Delicious, and nice lemony flavor from the lemon grass (I used two stalks). Perfect Thanksgiving side.
Reuel
Meh, roasting in the oven with a little olive oil and seasoned as you wish is way better. If I wanted to eat baby food I could just buy a jar and be done with it
Rose
Maybe best recipe I’ve made from NYT! And I didn’t have any lemongrass
Sarah M
Delicious and so easy. I made this two nights in a row, the first night with delicata squash, as the recipe calls for, and the second night with cubes butternut squash from the grocery store. I added a couple of minutes to the cook time, as recommended by other reviewers. I didn’t bother melting the butter first.
VNS
for Instant pot: mix ingredients in recipe in heatproof bowl on the rack that comes with the Instant Pot. Add one cup water beneath rack and follow recipe pressure cooking instructions, using high pressure and quick release. The caramelization is subtle and lovely! I didn't need to use any honey, the squash was plenty sweet. Also, I didn't have lemon grass, but half-a-lemon's worth of lemon zest worked fine.
Vicki F
Very bitter aftertaste. A big disappointment.
Amy Jane
I enjoyed making and eating this recipe using my pressure cooker. The video showed lots of water along with the squash and after puréeing created more of a sauce for them to enjoy. I noticed the other comments with some people saying their squash burned. Mine did not burn, but there was no water left in the pot. Squash pieces were very caramelized. So my result was more of dry a “mashed potato” consistency, and of course I could have added water. It was really good, and easy. Thanks!
Michelle
Do you think this would work with sweet potatoes?
Charlie Byron
I used an Instant pot an liked the result. Next time I want to use a slightly longer cooking time, maybe 25 minutes. But it was great this time.
Cristina
I've just did the recipe, i stopped after 10 minutes since i smelled burnt from the pressure cooker. Yes, it was burnt in the bottom but the rest is delicious.
Savilac
I made this, but would add a little water, because it had a burnt butter flavor which I didnt like, I would add half a cup of water just for the purpose of avoiding the burnt butter flavor.
Raven
Diet requires less butter, so I used half and added 1/4 water. The lemongrass I had on hand was in a spice mix with curry and ginger. Will repeat! 20 minutes on high for instant pot was fine. We licked the pot! Will definitely make again!
Darcy
I doubled the recipe and made it in one batch and it came out great. I mashed it with a fork rather than pureeing it. Delicious, and nice lemony flavor from the lemon grass (I used two stalks). Perfect Thanksgiving side.
J
Lesson learned: drain the squash as much as you can before you puree it. My squash had pretty much liquified anyway, so I dumped the entire contents of the pot into the blender ... and ended up with butter soup. Seriously - it's like butter with a hint of squash and lemongrass.
erno
wierd, lemongrass too old? soggy
Patricia
So no extra liquid needed? Instant Pot says always include at least a half cup liquid.
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