Turn this favorite summer vegetable into a variety of delicious side dishes.

Rich Landau, one of the chefs behind fine-dining vegetable restaurant Vedge, told USA TODAY he’s been cooking with butternut squash for over 30 years.

Butternut squash is a fall staple, but prepping and cooking it isn’t exactly intuitive. The firm fruit (yes, it’s technically a fruit) is famously difficult to slice into (you’ll need a sharp knife, ...