JENNIFER MALONEY |Café Sebastienne

Do you take the lead on Thanksgiving, or do you prefer to let someone else run the kitchen that day? “For the last 13 years we’ve been getting together with a friend and her family. Once I get there, I start taking over the gravy and making sure everything is ready to go on time. That’s always a big issue because everybody likes to hang out and drink and have appetizers.”

Do you make this recipe every year? “I’ve never made a savory crisp, but I was thinking about doing a casserole, then we just starting getting a lot of squash (at the restaurant) from our farmers. I do a crisp on my menu, and I just thought of putting blue cheese and brandy with it.”

Any tips for how home cooks can get their meal to the table while it’s still hot? Put the plates in the oven for 5 minutes at 300 degrees just before serving. Or put them in the dishwasher and they will come out hot.

Savory Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Crisp

Makes 12 servings

Squash:

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped into small dice

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium to large whole butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into medium dice

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped into medium dice

1/4 cup brandy

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Crisp:

1/4 pound Roquefort or other blue cheese, crumbled

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup panko (Japanese-style) breadcrumbs (look for in supermarkets and Asian specialty stores)

1/2 cup whole pecans

1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped sage

For the squash: Rub a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with unsalted butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute onion in unsalted butter until translucent. On a baking sheet, toss onion with squash and apples and roast for 15 minutes, or until tender. Pour squash and apple mixture into prepared baking dish and with a wooden spoon combine roasted vegetables with brandy, sage and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.

For the crisp: Crumble all the ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl by hand until lumpy. Sprinkle over roasted squash and apple mixture and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, and crisp topping is golden-brown and bubbly.

Per serving: 218 calories (72 percent from fat), 17 grams total fat (9 grams saturated), 37 milligrams cholesterol, 12 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams protein, 141 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber.