an adventure into my cookbook collection: soul-searching, doing things differently & the truths I learn along the way...

deseeding pomegranates is feminine & erotic, unless you hit them with a wooden spoon...

urm..?

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Roasted butternut squash stuffed with almonds and raisins

So this was a bit of an experiment - it turned out really well though. Most of the time I tend to over-complicate things, but i think the reason why this worked so well was that i really kept it simple. It is based on a recipe I saw in a magazine once where the cavity of the squash was stuffed with a date couscous. I'm sure it was ok, but probably all a bit much.

Take a butternut squash and cut it in half lengthways, and scoop the seeds out of the middle sections of each half.  Score crisscross sections in the main body, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cumin, paprika and salt. Roast in a medium/ hot oven, about 180-200 for 45-1 hr.  while it is cooking, dice a smallish onion and fry in olive oil until soft and scorched/brown at the edges.  Then add roughly chopped blanched almonds, a handful of raisins and a bunch of chopped fresh parsley, with a squeeze of lemon juice, and fry for a few minutes more.  Serve the squash whole with the fruit and nut mixture in the cavity, and anywhere else you feel like. Someone with a bit more finesse might have cut the squash into wedges and served it elegantly, but I quite liked the rustic effect of serving it whole at the table with a few spoons for people to dig in to it with.

I didnt take a photo, so here is a little drawing showing what it looked like:














Version with quinoa added to the stuffing mix - served with feta flavoured with sumac, zatar, olive oil and toasted pumpkin seeds

No comments:

Post a Comment