Curried Lentils with Butternut Squash

this is an ugly dish (i mean the brown stuff in the center). i'm a lousy photographer, but i doubt even jen yu could've made this look good (she made lentils recently and those did look good, but they weren't stirred into a curried mashed butternut squash mixture!). but just 'cause it's ugly don't mean it's blech. it is quite good, in fact. this recipe comes from cat cora's Cooking from the Hip. i bought this hardcover cookbook by an Iron Chef for a mere $3.99! definitely cheap, as is the recipe itself. and easy. and pretty quick. you cook the lentils and chunks of butternut squash together, drain, then remove the hunks o' squash and mash 'em up, then add the lentils, some curry powder, fresh ginger, chili powder, olive oil, salt, and pepper, slap it into a baking dish and bake. cat says you can garnish with grated coconut; i improved on the Iron Chef's suggestion. yes, i did! i garnished with toasted coconut. makes a world of difference! she says this is a good vegetarian (even vegan) meal with some brown rice and a mug of beer. i scented my brown rice with a little lemon zest and threw on some sliced scallion, added a slice of my sourdough bread, and poured a flying dog I.P.A. a nice meal indeed.