Butternut, Goat Cheese, and Walnut Spread

Pungent goat cheese, sweet butternut squash, and slightly bitter walnuts create an unusual spread for crostini. Toast the baguette slices a day ahead, and store at room temperature in a zip-top plastic bag. Prepare and chill the spread up to a day ahead; serve at room temperature.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 2 1/2 tablespoons spread and 3 baguette slices)

Ingredients

• 1  medium butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• Cooking spray
• 1  whole garlic head
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  (3-ounce) package goat cheese
• 1/4  cup  chopped walnuts, toasted
• 36  (1/2-inch-thick) slices French bread baguette, toasted (about 8 ounces)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise; remove and discard seeds. Place squash halves, cut sides down, on a foil-lined jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Remove white papery skin from the garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap garlic head in foil. Place garlic on pan with squash. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until squash is tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out the pulp from squash, and discard skins. Separate garlic cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.

Place squash, garlic, juice, salt, and cheese in a food processor; process until smooth. Spoon mixture into a bowl, and sprinkle evenly with nuts. Serve with baguette slices.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

114 (28% from fat)

Fat:

3.5g (sat 1.3g,mono 0.8g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:

4.1g

Carbohydrate:

17.5g

Fiber:

2.4g

Cholesterol:

3mg

Iron:

1.1mg

Sodium:

251mg

Calcium:

54mg