squash | oliveoilandlemon

October 16, 2014

Autumn Salads

These 2 salads are perfect for Autumn weather, just starting to get wet & cold but not quite there yet. I gave a big tub of the butternut squash one to my husband last week for when he was on a course and someone told him he was eating ‘Posh Salad’… Posh salad it is so!

Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash Warm Salad with Pecans and Bacon

Serves 4
1 small butternut squash, peeled and 3/4″ inch diced
1 medium sweet potatoe, peeled and 3/4″ diced
2 tbsp good quality olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
4 ounces mixed leaves (rocket and lambs lettuce work well)
1/2 cup pecan nuts toasted
4 slices back bacon

Dressing made from twice as much oil as white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Oven at 180C
Put the butternut squash and sweet potato into a bowl and toss with olive oil and lots of salt
Place on a baking tray and roast for about 15 minutes until tender, turn them once.
Add the cranberries and roast for about 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile toast the pecans for about 8 minutes.
Cook the bacon in the oven on a flat sheet while you are cooking the vegetables.
When the vegetables are done, add them to a large bowl, throw in the pecans, slice the bacon and add to the bow.
Gently toss the salad leaves with the veg, spoon over the vinaigrette and serve.
This is best served immediately – if you want to save some for another day, let it cool and don’t add the lettuce leaves until just before serving.

Puy Lentil Salad with Goats Cheese and Peach
This is a really quick way to make a substantial and filling salad. I use tinned Puy lentils as a quick cheat as well as one of my favorite goats cheese from Fivemiletown here

Serves 4
1 Can Puy lentils rinsed and drained
4oz goats cheese of choice (I love the creaminess of boilie with peppercorns)
1 Red apple cored and sliced thinly
4 Handfuls of lettuce leaves of choice

Dressing
Combine 3 tbsp sherry vinegar 3 tablespoons olive oil, and minced garlic in a jar with a lid and shake until blended.

Tip lentils into a bowl, add lettuce leaves, apple slices and dress with the dressing
Arrange on flat serving plate and top with the goats cheese
Serve!

March 8, 2014

Butternut squash and tomato gratin with Coconut Milk

A gratin based on coconut milk adds a difference to this dish. Perfect for most root vegetables such as pumpkin, celeriac, or sweet potato instead of butternut squash if you prefer. The coconut milk in the mix adds a delicious creamy but less indulgent hit. Try with a sprinkle of toasted cuimin seeds for an extra hit of flavour.

Butternut squash & Tomato gratin
Serves 4-6
1 large butternut squash
1lb plum tomatoes, halved
3 medium red onions sliced finely
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
A little soft light brown sugar (optional)
150ml double cream
400 ml tin coconut milk
30g grated Parmesan

Oven at 190°C
Peel and de-seed the squash and cut it into slices.
Put into a large roasting tin along with the halved plum tomatoes.
Tip over the olive oil and season well.
If the tomatoes are a bit tart, sprinkle a small amount of light brown sugar on them.
Roast for about 10 minutes then add the red onion
Continue to roast for a further 10 minutes, then transfer the vegetables to a gratin dish.
Season, then pour over the coconut milk and cream mixture and sprinkle on the cheese.
Put the dish back in the oven for another 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked and the gratin is bubbling and golden. Periodically during the cooking, use a fish slice to press down the vegetables under the cream mixture.
This is delicious as a side with Chicken or topped with a few eggs for a delicious supper.

2 Comments

November 10, 2012

Winter Salad of Beets and Squash

Check out this delicious winter salad for a hearty lunch or a delicious first course. Serve this luke warm rather than cold and it is just YUM. The caramelised walnuts are the perfect counterfoil to the beetroot and feta so don’t omit this step. Full of great antioxidants and vitamins from the veggies never mind the Omega 3 fatty acid boost from the walnuts and good oil fats. Beetroot in particular is great for Heart Health so what’s not to ♥.

Winter Salad of Beet and Squash

Serves 2

1 beetroot, peeled and chopped into 2” pieces
1 small butter nut squash peeled and chopped into 2” pieces (if very big, just use the long end).
4oz feta cheese chopped into 2” cubes
4oz walnuts
1 tbsp of sugar
Rape Seed oil
4 handfuls of mixed leaves
Vinaigrette dressing for the salad

Oven at 180C
Roast the beetroot until tender. (About 15 minutes) (Remember to use disposable plastic gloves when peeling and chopping if you don’t want purple hands).

Heat some oil in the pan over a medium heat and add the butternut squash. Season and cook until the underside is golden brown and lovely and caramelised.
Turn over and repeat for the other side.
Put pan into the oven to finish cooking – about 8 minutes.
Clean the pan and place back on a high heat.
Add the sugar and let it caramelise, as soon as this happens, tip the walnuts in and stir around quickly to coat them in the sugar.
Tip them into a bowl when caramelised so as not to burn.
Arrange the beet, squash and feta on a plate and add the mixed salad leaves.
Toss over the candied walnuts, drizzle over some simple vinaigrette and serve and enjoy!.

And since we talking winter……

October 3, 2012

Great breakfast options…

There are differing views to the value of breakfast from ‘Never miss it’ ranging to ‘Let your body decide’. I need my engine started in the morning and can’t function without it- I get narky,really really narky for a start and secondly, if i took my supplements on an empty stomach, I’d be feeling sick all day – not great when you are trying to do a day’s work. When I’m at work, it’s quick, usually at the desk, the main requisite being a really good coffee and a flapjack brought in from home filled with nuts and seeds – great for keeping me going for a while. At the weekend when there is more time, we love a leisurely breakkie, read the papers, cook something substantial with eggs and have some homemade granola and muffins as an option too. This is my most favourite recipe for granola – full of good nutritious ingredients and if you don’t have everything, just substitute something else in. The muffins are a bit different and are a great option for using left over butternut squash. They are such a sweet veggie that they make a great option for putting into breakfast muffins. A couple of handfuls of blueberries make a great antioxidant boost also if you have them, serve on the side with the muffins.

Crunchy Oat Granola
4 tablespoons honey
100 gr rolled oats
225 oat flakes
100g barley flakes
50 gr rye flakes
25 gr toasted pumpkin seeds
25gr linseed
100 ml coconut oil
40 gr millet flakes / wheat germ
50 gr chopped dates, figs, dried bananas,
80 gr toasted hazelnuts
50gr your choice of pine nuts, almonds, pecans,

Preheat oven to 170deg
Combine first 7 ingredients along with the coconut oil
Spread out in a roasting tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 – 40 minutes until golden brown. Stir the mixture every 10 minutes to prevent uneven browning.
Allow to cool and then combine with the millet, fruit and nuts
Store in an airtight tin (this will keep for several weeks)
Serve with yoghurt, honey fruit compote for a delicious sunshine brunch

Breakfast Muffins with Butternut Squash Puree, Apple and Hazelnuts
1 ¾ cups flours – you can use all gluten free white mix or a mix of almond, hazelnut, brown rice, jowar flours.
¼ cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp lemon zest
1 sweet apple grated
½ cup butternut squash pureed
½ tsp salt, baking powder, bread soda and zanthan gum
½ tsp ginger and mixed spice
3 eggs
½ cup coconut palm sugar
3 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
Mix the flours, salt, soda, baking powder and spices together
Whisk the eggs with the coconut oil, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest
Stir in the puree and add the wet to the dry and mix gently but ensure they are fully combined
Stir in the grated apple and pour into muffin cases .
Top with chopped hazelnuts and bake at 170 for about 15 minutes until golden brown.
Serve warm with a fresh brew of organic coffee and some delicious fruit.

4 Comments

April 13, 2012

Salad of Quinoa, Butternut Squash, Feta and Beans

Do you feel fed if you haven’t had meat? I know lots of people, especially men who just don’t feel like they have been fed if they haven’t had meat on their plate. Not me though – I actually did not eat much meat for years, until I started weight training and developed a taste (maybe a need?) for it. There are days still though that I just dont feel like eating meat. I know it’s good for the body to have a meat break and personally I never feel deprived without it, as there are so many delicious ways to combine grains, veggies and leaves. This dish came about by chance after seeing an article on ways to use Quinoa. I’m a big fan of this grain and played around with some of the stuff I had at home and I have to say the flavours of this dish are really exceptional. It’s also great if you are really eating clean, yet filling and full of flavour. The salad dressing uses Pomegranate molasses which is a fantastic addition to your storecupboard and adds a lovely sherberty zing to this. The result was a really tasty meal, deceptively simple for the great flavours it produced. While I used butternut, you can use any squash or small pumkin.

Ingredients – Serves 4
Turn oven on to 200
1 butternut squash – slice and deseed
2 pinches of sumac
1 cup quinoa soaked for 15 minutes in 2 cups of water then brought to the boil and simmered until absorbed and cooked
200gr feta chopped
1 can mixed beans or chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 red onion sliced
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Dressing
60ml EVOO
30ml white wine vinegar
1 tbsp Pomegranate molassees
1 tsp castor sugar
salt and pepper
Combine all the ingredients and mix well

Toss the sliced butternut squash in 2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Sprinkle the pinches of sumac over the squash and cook in the oven until tender
After 15 minutes add the red onion till the end of cooking time
Add the dressing and flat leaf parsley to the cooked quinoa and season well
Add the feta and beans and assemble the salad as shown.

6 Comments

Tag: squash

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