Annaliese’s roasted butternut squash with cranberry and pear accents

Ingredients

• 
  
  coating of olive oil for baking dish
  
• 1
  
  medium butternut squash
  
• 2
  
  pears, a crisp variety for best results
  
• 2
  
  ounces or so of dried premium cranberries
  
• 1-2
  
  tablespoons demerara sugar
  
• 1-2
  
  tablespoons ground sumac
  
• 1-2
  
  teaspoons ground pink peppercorns, less if you are using black or white
  
• 1-2
  
  tablespoons maple syrup (or more, to your taste)
  
• 
  
  healthy pinch of pink Himalayan or kosher salt
  
• 
  
  squeeze of lemon
  
• 2
  
  tablespoons or so of unsalted premium butter
  
• 
  
  fresh sprigs of lavender or rosemary for garnish
  
• 
  
  optional light drizzle of maple syrup for serving
  
• 
  
  optional squeeze of lemon for serving
  
• 
  
  for a dessert version, drizzle with more maple syrup and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche
  

Directions

1. Lop off the top and bottom minimal ends of the squash. Vigorously peel off all the skin. Along the vertical axis chop the squash down the middle. With conviction scoop out all of the seeds, as well as all the fuzziness from the cavity. I find a metal tablespoon best for this job because it can so precisely scrape out just the messy bits, while keeping the solid flesh in tact. Proceed to dice the squash into clean, crisp one inch or so generous chunks.
2. Pare the pair of pears (please indulge me here- I just had to employ all three homophones in at least one sentence). Cutting just shy of the core, dice the pears into bite size chunks.
3. Lightly coat a baking dish with olive oil. Layer in the squash chunks first. Judiciously distribute the cranberries next. Mix the sugar, sumac, pepper and salt (to taste) together; sprinkle this mix on top, liberally coating the squash, as illustrated in the photo. Feel free to make more mix to have on hand as a topping. Adjust how much you use to suit your own taste. If you don’t want so much crunch, switch up the type of sugar. Squeeze a bit of lemon over the top. Metering the syrup, pour this over the top evenly. Finally, distribute curls of unsalted butter democratically across the top.
4. Roast in a preheated oven of 375 for about 20 minutes. Then sneak the pears in to the dish, as unobtrusively as possible; return to roasting for about 25-35 more minutes. When perfectly tender, let the dish rest for about 5 minutes.
5. Pop in a garnish of fresh herbal sprigs, delicately drizzle a tad of maple syrup if you have a sweet tooth, and squeeze a wedge of fresh lemon over each portion. Top with creme fraiche and more maple syrup for a savory dessert.