super vegetarian

growing up, my family were strict meat eaters. to this day, i always get a nice fluttery feeling when i think about the impending holidays and all the turkey and roast beef. mmmm meat. so i guess i’ll never be a strict veg, but i’ve absolutely changed my ways since moving to london and living with one. you won’t find any meat in my kitchen (but that doesn’t mean i won’t order some when we’re at a restaurant).

every time i pick up a new cooking or food magazine, i always tear out the vegetarian recipes first. this one comes from olive and was colourful, beautiful, and delicious. all the herbs were fresh from the farmer’s market last weekend. how wonderful is the smell of fresh thyme? yummmm.

roasted butternut squash with goat’s cheese

based on this recipe from olive magazine, and halved.

the particulars:

• 1 small butternut squash
• garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• a pinch dried chilli flakes
• 1 tsp thyme, chopped
• 1 courgette, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1 small red onions, chopped
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 25g pine nuts
• 50g goat’s cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped

1. heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds then cut criss-cross patterns over the cut-side of each one. mix together the garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, chilli and thyme and brush this mixture over the flesh. bake for about 40 minutes until the flesh is tender.
2. to make the filling, put the courgette, pepper and onion in a roasting tin and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. season and roast for about 20-25 minutes until tender and starting to brown at the edges. add the cherry tomatoes and pine nuts and cook for another 10 minutes.
3. mix the breadcrumbs, goat’s cheese, and parsley. arrange the roasted vegetables in the squash halves, scatter with the breadcrumb and cheese mix and bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

lesson learned: the squash was a bit on the firm side, so could use maybe 10 more minutes in our little oven. other than that, the flavours were great and it was perfectly filling.

Tagged as: eggfree, soyfree, vegetarian