Simply… yum!
I am a massive fan of buttery caramelized onions. To me they are the ultimate comfort food. I love them with bangers & mash and plenty of gravy, or stirred into cooked quinoa with a liberal grating of Parmesan cheese or like this, served in the centre of a juicy, tender, roasted butternut squash.
Butternut squash is a fairly new addition to our kitchen. I used to roast it all the time, with plenty of olive oil, when the children were each weaning, but it was never something I served up at the dinner table for the adults. To be honest, I’d never even heard of butternut squash until I started feeding my children solids and I read about it in a book somewhere. I didn’t have a very adventurous assortment of vegetables served up at my childhood dinner table so my food journey, ever since I moved into my own home, has slowly been expanding my vegetable boundaries. I’m very glad it now includes butternut squash.
This Nigel Slater dish is one of my favourite dishes. It hardly takes any work at all, just halve a squash, scoop out the seeds (reserve them and roast them later with some sea salt, if you wish), dot with butter and roast for an hour in the oven. Then, during the last 15 minutes of cooking you prepare a filling with onions, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, paprika and sultanas, fill the squash, pop back in the oven and heat for a further ten minutes or so. Easy peasy!
Variation: I’ve found that adding a few slices of diced smoked back bacon immensely adds to the flavour. Bacon always makes everything better, no? Fry the bacon before you saute the onion, reserve the crispy fried bacon, saute the onion in the bacon fat/butter and continue as usual.
I have included this delicious recipe in Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen‘s Dish of the Month – March 2013, which features Nigel Slater recipes (I do suspect Janice is a Nigel Slater fan!).
I have edited and reposted this blog post, originally published last May, because I’d copied the recipe off the BBC Food website and I’ve since learned that is A Very Naughty Thing To Do (although it was credited to Mr. Slater)! My bad! All fixed now.  🙂
Chocolate Chunk Brioche (Bread Machine)
iv only ever had butternut squash as a soup, but love it, i eat meat but not a massive fan of the stuff, so would love to try this.
I recently cut meat & protein from my diet (4 months) and my cholestrial dropped from 5.9 to 3.4. Doctor very pleased… however I do miss protein and find a lot of veggie meals boring/plain, even though my taste of foods has returned. This looks quite nice though!
Thanks for the idea to stuff a squash. it looks very tasty. i
I like the look of the spicy filling, and hopefully is a useful extra recipe for an awkward veggie friend.
Love butternut squash & will def. try this. Used to cook a lot with vegetable marrow & grow my own. It also makes wonderful wine – my marrow & ginger would knock your socks off but wonderful on a cold, windy day.
I am an absolute lover of caramelized onions and butternut squash too. It´s the most common type of squash here, by far, so I use it year round. This is an amazing recipe Elizabeth! I need to buy those NS books!
Oddly enough this is the only kind of squash we can buy where I live. I wish there was more of a variety, but alas! Still, can’t complain because butternut is fantastic!
Nigel Slater’s recipes are wonderful – such simple honesty about them. Your squash look really appealing. I’m sure he’d be delighted! Perfect for this chilly spring weather too…
All the recipes of his I have tried so far have been winners. I should perhaps invest in one of his cookery books!
One of my fave veggies but never thought of stuffing it, this looks fabulous and thanks for taking part.
It’s a fantastic recipe – do try it! So simple and effective. 🙂
Love Butternut Squash, so easy to cook it like this -nice job there.