At the moment, I am trying to eat less tomatoes and more squash because they are in season. Also, I think I may have a small allergy to tomatoes and my stomach prefers sauces made with squashes and pumpkin. Butternut is a delicious addition to the squash family and it has a sweet, nutty flavour. I recently made a pesto using it and it was delicious.
The yummy fruit has a yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp. When it turns increasingly deep orange it becomes sweeter and richer. It also grows on the vine. The squash is low in fat and delivers an ample dose of dietary fibre. It makes the fruit an exceptionally heart-friendly choice. It provides significant amounts of potassium which is important for bone health and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune system. When butternut squash is roasted, as in this recipe, it taste delicious and it is yummy in this risotto. Below is a video and recipe for you.
Do you use different vegetables instead of tomatoes? If so, what you enjoy using the most? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me.
Serves 4
Equipment
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping board
- Peeler
- Baking tray
- Food processor
- Saucepans x 2
- Tablespoons
Ingredients
- Onions x 2
- Butternut squash x 1 large
- Garlic x 4 cloves
- Vegetable or chicken stock x 200mls (please see http://www.alexisrealfoodwagon.com for more details).
- Cream cheese x 4 tbsp
- Parmesan or a mature cheedar x 80g
- Corriander x 1 large handful
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Quinoa or brown rice x 200g
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
- Add the baking tray to the oven while it is preheating.
- Peel the butternut squash and cut into bit size pieces.
- Cut the ends off the onions, peel off its dry skin and chop it into quarters.
- Remove the preheated baking tray from the oven with oven gloves.
- Put the chopped onion, butternut squash and garlic into the tray.
- Drizzle over the olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Place back in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes.
- Once the outside has started to brown, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Once cool, place the baking tray ingredients into the food processor, along with the cream cheese, grated parmesan or mature cheddar and the roughly chopped corriander.
- Blend the ingredients together.
- While it’s blending, add the chicken stock gradually and check it’s at a consistency you like.
- Add more salt and pepper to taste, if required.
- Set aside and boil the quinoa in the saucepan along with a pinch of salt.
- Pour the sauce into the other saucepan and leave on a gental heat while the quinoa cooks.
- Finally once the quinoa has cooked add it to the sauce and serve.
We had this dish with steamed broccolli but you could have it with wilted spinach or cook kale. You could even try it with pasta if you are not a rice or quinoa fan. Ted, Howard and I all enjoyed this meal and it’s a definite one to put on the weekly menu in the future. However you decide to eat it, as always, please enjoy.
Googies Kitchen Life 