Roasted Butternut Squash with Leeks, Grapes and Sage

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450. If you didn’t wake up earlier in the day to clean a butternut squash, my advice is to preheat the oven before you prep any of the vegetables. Using a sturdy peeler, I simply peeled the squash, cut it in a half at its waistline, sliced those pieces in thirds, scraped out the seeds from its bulb, then cut those into thirds, or approximately two inch cubes.
2. For the leek, I chopped off the top, peeled away its stiff, dark green outer layers until I got to very pale green part, sliced the leek in half vertically, and ran the stalks under running water and wiped out any dirt stuck in its crevices. To make certain that the leeks wouldn’t burn in a hot oven, I kept those pieces and their layers altogether in rather large pieces, about 2 inches.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the squash, leek, sage, olive oil and salt.
4. Place all ingredients into a roasting pan with sides or medium-sized casserole dish, and cover tightly with foil.
5. Place into the hot oven for approximately 30 minute.
6. At the end of 30 minutes, remove the foil, and give everything a stir. Things should have softened very nicely by now.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and add the washed grapes and give everything a stir.
8. Place the casserole dish, uncovered, back into the oven for approximately 15 minutes more. Your goal at this point is to soften the grapes.
9. In 15 minutes time, check on the pan. If everything is softened, and perhaps a little bit browned, remove from the oven, and serve.