Archive for the ‘Butternut squash’ Category

Coconut Squash Soup

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Kuri Squash
1 Kuri squash
1 Butternut squash
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 onion
1 tsp sage
50g creamed coconut (I used a patak’s sachet)
2 chicken (or veg) stock cubes
salt to taste

Cut the squashes in half and place on a tray, cut side up.  Roast in a 200c oven, for an hour.

Chop the onion finely and fry in a big pan with a little olive oil.  When glassy, add 1 1/2 litres of chicken stock.  Scoop the seeds out of the squashes and scrape the flesh out of the shells.  Discard the skin and seeds, and add all the flesh to the soup pan.

Bring to boil, then simmer gently for around half an hour.  Put the creamed coconut sachet in a cup of hot water, then add to the soup, together with the sage.

Leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes, then blend.  Add salt to taste (mine needed a tsp for the 2l of soup I made, but it depends on your stock cube).  Serve with crusty bread or buttered toast.

Posted in Butternut squash, Chicken Stock, Coconut, Kuri Squash, Onion, Organic Box, Recipe, Sage, Soup | No Comments »

Butternut Squash with Sundried tomatoes & Mascarpone

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Butternut Squash

1 Butternut squash
1 jar sundried tomatoes in oil (I use the merchant gourmet ones)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
250g tub mascarpone
pinch salt

Heat your oven to 200 degrees.  Cut the squash in half and lay on a greased tin, (or on baking paper if you value your tin as the skins can fuse to it).  Put in the oven to bake for between 40mins to an hour, depending on your squash.

Drain the tomatoes (save the oil for salad dressings) and chop into small strips around 1cm long.  You don’t have to be precise.  Mix the tomatoes with the mascarpone, salt and nutmeg.  Taste it, and adjust as necessary.  It should be a little on the salty side to combat the sweetness of the squash.  Return the mixture to the mascarpone tub and put in the fridge until the squash are done.

Test the the squash after 40 mins.  They are ready when a fork goes easily into the flesh (don’t prick them all over as it won’t look too pretty though!).  When they are soft, turn the oven off, take the squash out but keep the door shut.  Scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and discard (unless you are into roasting them, but I haven’t tried that one yet).

Fill the squash cavity with the mascarpone mixture and return to the oven for 20 mins (but do not switch it back on!).  When you take them out the mascarpone will have melted and heated.  Serve immediately with a feisty growing communities salad or some watercress on the side.

Any extra filling makes an awesome pasta sauce.

Posted in Butternut squash, Nutmeg, Recipe, Sundried Tomatoes, Toddler, Vegetarian, Weaning | 1 Comment »

Organic Box 30th Sept 2009

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

fruit: conference pears, worcester apples, bananas, black lavelle grapes, mango
veg: carrots, onions, nicola potatoes, tomatoes, butternut squash, cavolo nero, aubergine, chillis

What an exciting box… now it really is beginning to feel like autumn and its not just the chilly weather!  The butternut squash is definitely going to be stuffed with mascarpone and sundried tomatoes, I’ll post the recipe later this week as it really is 5 mins of prep for an absolutely stunning dinner party dish.

The aubergine, tomatoes and chilli will become an aubergine pasta bake and I’m planning to create a new recipe with the cavolo nero, so watch this space!

The potatoes are so lovely and thin skinned, they just have to be served with butter and black pepper or maybe in a greek potato salad (with artichoke hearts, eggs and frozen broad beans)… we shall see.  The carrots will be served German style this week with some breadcrumbed fish and salad leaves.

Hopefully the babies will start to leave us a pear or two to poach and have with chocolate sauce and ice cream (fairly unlikely but a girl can dream)…. what a culinary week we have in store.

Posted in Aubergine, Butternut squash, Organic Box, Pear, Potato | No Comments »