Now is the time for heavenly squash

Butternut squash has to be good for you. Know why? Because it grows in such insane abundance.

Surely anything with that much vigor must be healthy (think about dandelions; they’re good for you, too).

If you’ve ever planted a demure little squash seedling in your garden and had it start colonizing your entire yard, you know what I’m talking about.

Fiber is probably the biggest health benefit you get from eating these guitar-shaped autumn squash (which most of us think of as a vegetable but which is technically a fruit; the seeds are inside). Fiber, of course, is good for your heart and your digestion.

It’s also one of those yellow/orange foods that are loaded with beta carotene and are particularly strengthening for your eyes (they help you fight off macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in America among the elderly).

Butternut squash is a cancer fighter, too. All the really colorful fruits and vegetables, it turns out, have a lot of the antioxidants that help clear away the cancer-causing free radicals that your body produces.

They’re also believed to have anti-inflammatory properties so in theory if you eat a great deal of squash you might get some arthritis relief.

Butternut squash has a lot of vitamin B6 and folate, both of which strengthen your nervous and immune systems.

And they have a lot of potassium, which is one of the electrolytes that needs to be replaced after vigorous exercise.

The easy way to eat it? Cut the top and bottom off your squash, cut it in half lengthwise so you have two long flattish sides and roast it (on a cookie tray lined with foil or parchment paper) at about 375 degrees. When the skin is brownish and you can easily pierce the flesh with a fork, knife, toothpick or other implement, it’s done.

The skin will peel off easily after the squash is done, and the seeds will slip right out. Mash the squash (you can add orange juice, or brown sugar and butter or coconut oil for added flavor) and eat it as a side dish; or mash it and turn it into soup. Sauté the squash with garlic, onions, leeks and apples; thin out with chicken broth. You can add cream at the end, after you’ve puréed all the ingredients, but that’s not essential.

Butternut squash ravioli

Makes about two dozen

2 cups roasted or boiled butternut squash;  1 tablespoon chopped sage;  1 small shallot (about 1 tablespoon) peeled and chopped;  1 very small garlic clove, peeled and chopped fine;  1/2 cup chicken broth;  1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese;  1/2 cup fresh orange juice;  a dash of paprika;  1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg;  coarse salt and freshly ground pepper;  1 cup ricotta cheese;  1 pack round wonton wrappers (available in the freezer near the sushi bar at Sharon Farm Market)

If your ricotta is very wet, put it in a colander and let it drain while you prepare the squash.

Sauté the sage, shallot and garlic in a medium saucepan. I use butter and canola oil but feel free to use olive oil if you prefer. Add the squash and the chicken broth and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the squash is soft enough that you can mash it with a fork.

Add the orange juice, paprika, nutmeg and grated Parmesan and mix well.

Set a big pot of water boiling, with lots of salt in it.

Open your wonton wrappers, but keep a damp paper towel over them so they don’t get brittle. Take out two wrappers at a time.

Drench the edges (you want them really wet) and scoop a heaping teaspoon of the butternut squash into the center of one wrapper. Top it with about a half teaspoon of ricotta. Place a second wrapper on top of the whole thing and seal the edges with a fork (I like to seal them on one side, then flip them and crimp the other side as well).

Repeat until you’ve used up all your wontons. You can freeze them but it’s better to eat them right away; the skins are very delicate and these have to be packaged very carefully for storage. I place them on plastic wrap so their edges weren’t touching, with four ravioli to each packet. You don’t need to defrost them before you cook them.

I found that it was best if I didn’t put too many ravioli in the pot at once. Six was about the maximum, before they started to stick together.

These cook very quickly, in less than two minutes, so be prepared to scoop them out of the pot and into a colander quickly.

As a sauce, I browned some butter and added chopped sage, soft roasted onions and porcini mushrooms. You can also just toss them with a little butter, olive oil and Parmesan. Taste before you season; I found that I didn’t need to add any additional salt and pepper.

These ravioli are very rich, so you won’t need to add much oil, butter or cheese.