Two of our great friends grow their own fruit, vegetables, potatoes, you-name-it.. This means that we get gifts of amazing, organic veg with a fully traceable origin! It doesn’t get better, fresher or tastier than that – lucky us!
It also gives me the opportunity to spend what I cheerily call a ‘happy half-hour’ with my collection of cookery books, and on-line, looking for recipe inspiration. And so it was when these fantastic Autumn Squash came home with us yesterday.
I have to admit – and I’m fairly sure I speak for more than a few of our Eating-for-Ireland community – that we didn’t eat a whole load of squash growing up in Dublin! As children, we didn’t even have pumpkins – we (or rather our Dads) carved out turnips for Halloween lanterns!
But time moves on, and with the gift of organic squash, comes great responsibility!
Butternut Squash, which are available all year round in the supermarkets are included in this catagory. You can treat virtually all Squash in a similar manner, and once you’ve cooked one, you can confidently cook them all. Let’s give this beauty a go for our Sunday evening dinner!
EQUIPMENT:
- A large shallow roasting tray
- A bowl to mix the ingredients.
INGREDIENTS:
- Your choice of Squash, cut in half; seeds – if present – removed; sliced into 1-2cm thickslices. I leave the rind on, but you can remove it if you like. I’m leaving quantities to you too, depending on how many you’re feeding.
- 2-3 Peppers – cut into large chunks
- 1 large or two small onions, peeled and cut into wedges
- a teaspoonful of Fennel seeds
- a light sprinkle of dried chilli flakes
- Oil – I use Northern Ireland Rapeseed Oil.
- Salt
- 1-2 tablespoons of Maple Syrup
METHOD:
- Heat the oven to 180 Fan.
- Mix the slices of Squash with the oil, dried chilli and fennel seeds in the bowl.
- Spread them onto the lightly-oiled baking tray in a single layer
- Sprinkle with some salt
- Roast for 15-20 minutes
- Turn the slices of Squash over, then add the peppers and Onion, and return to the oven until everything is tender and the Squash has started to caramelize at the edges. About 15 minutes.
- Pour over the Maple Syrup, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
NOTES:
- We had this with our Sunday evening dinner on the day I wrote this recipe, and between us we ate the whole tray!
- If you don’t have Maple Syrup handy, a drizzle of honey will do very well.
- Feel free to mix up the additions – some well-chopped rosemary is a great choice too. Some fresh garlic sprinkled over for the last 15 minutes would be lovely too.
- The two peppers that I used today were survivors from the bottom of my vegetable drawer, and they roasted beautifully!
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx