Fall Fave

So I am trying out my new fancy pants camera - I'm still working on taking awesome pics of food. I kind of like th focuse of this one on the garlic. Thoughts? Anyfood, I forgot to take pictures in stages, and literally only caught the last mouthful of this fabulous butternut squash recipe. YUMMMMMM. This one is brought to us by my friend Ina, out of "Back to Basics." Super easy, super yummy, and *somewhat* healthy.

Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
Serves 6 ~ Back to Basics

Ingredients
1 large butternut squash (mine weighed in at 2.8 pounds - I wish I had a little bit more - ours only served 4)
1 head garlic, seperated but not peeled
2 tbsp good olive oil
2 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 oz thinly sliced pancetta, chopped (Trader Joes sells it already diced - excellent time saver! You can also use thick, center cut bacon)
16 whole fresh sage leaves
French bread, for serving (we skipped the carbo loading, kind of. We had an app that involved bread, so we took it easy here...)

Instructions
1) Preheat over to 400 degrees.

2) Peel and seed the butternut squash and then cut it into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes. Place the squash and the whole unpeeled garlic cloves on a sheet pan in one layer. Toss with the olive oil, maple syrup, salt, and pepper and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the squash begins to brown, turning once during baking. (I only baked for 15 minutes, I have a real aversion to mushy butternut squash and prefer mine a little more firm.)

3) Sprinkle the pancetta and sage leaves evenly over the butternut squash and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the squash and garlic are tender and caramelized. (Again, to avoid mushiness, I only baked for 20 minutes.) Season to taste and serve hot with French bread for guests to spread with the roasted garlic. (Aaahhhh, didn't read this last part re: the importance of bread with the lovely melt-in-your-mouth buttery garlic. I cannot tell you how many times my mother has instructed me to read the recipe all the way through - lesson learned.)

*Note: the maple syrup makes a bit of a mess in the second round of baking. If you don't want to make a huge baked on syrupy mess, line your pan with foil. I used a Wilton nonstick jelly roll pan and it came off fairly fast with a little soaking over night.