Butternut Squash Custard

Mother's Day. David and the children came, and Rebecca came with Thomas, and the house was full and I cooked the full spread — brisket, kugel, challah, the Feldman greatest hits — and we ate at the table where Marvin's place is no longer set (I stopped setting it after Passover; the empty place was too much on ordinary days; I save it for holidays now) and the table held twelve and the twelve were loud and alive and mine.

Sophie gave me a recipe she wrote herself — "Bubbe's Soup" by Sophie Feldman, age seven. The recipe reads: "Put water in a pot. Put a chicken in. Put salt. Put love. Wait a long time. It's done." This is, I note, a more accurate recipe for chicken soup than many published in actual cookbooks. The critical ingredients are correct: water, chicken, salt, love, time. Sophie has captured the essence. I will frame this recipe. I will put it on the wall of the kitchen next to Sylvia's index cards. The wall is becoming a museum of Feldman women's cooking instructions, a chronological archive from the shtetl to Oceanside to a seven-year-old's piece of lined paper, and the archive is the chain, and the chain is strong.

I brought Marvin a piece of the kugel on Monday. He ate it. He did not say it was Mother's Day or happy birthday or anything specific. He said, "Good." Good. The word is his. The word is enough. The kugel is good. The Mother's Day is good. The chain is good.

Sophie’s recipe says put love and wait a long time, and she is not wrong — that is the whole of it, really. The kugel I brought Marvin on Monday was made the same way: nothing fussy, nothing that needed explaining, just something warm and sweet that said what words don’t always manage to. This butternut squash custard is that dish for me now — the same yielding, golden comfort as a good kugel, soft enough to carry the weight of a full holiday table and simple enough to make on an ordinary Monday, because some days ordinary is the whole point.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 cups butternut squash puree (from 1 medium squash, roasted and mashed, or one 15 oz can)
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
Whipped cream or a dusting of cinnamon, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 325°F. Place a 9-inch baking dish or 8 individual 6 oz ramekins inside a larger roasting pan and set aside.
Mix the custard base. In a large bowl, whisk together the butternut squash puree, eggs, milk, heavy cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth and fully combined.
Season. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Whisk again until the spices are evenly distributed and the mixture is silky with no streaks.
Fill and set up the water bath. Pour the custard mixture into the baking dish or divide evenly among ramekins. Carefully pour hot tap water into the outer roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the dish or ramekins. This gentle, even heat is what gives the custard its smooth texture.
Bake. Transfer carefully to the oven and bake for 50—55 minutes for a single dish (35—40 minutes for ramekins), until the custard is just set at the edges but still has a slight wobble in the center when gently shaken.
Cool and serve. Remove the dish from the water bath and let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Top with a spoonful of whipped cream or a pinch of cinnamon if you like, though it is perfectly good on its own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Butternut Squash Custard — The Sweetness of “Good”