Veg to Table: Squash
Autumn is a season that always fills me with dread when it approaches, as the last of the warmth drains from the air and daylight fades before you’ve even had a chance to leave the house. I find there’s an eerie melancholy that creeps in, almost as if the world wants to shy away after its bold summer outburst. While other people are heartened by the thought of cocooning themselves in a blanket, I’m still longing for the heat of the sun; as they giddily begin the countdown to Christmas, I simply wish summer was closer.
However, there is one upside to the slightly gloomy shift that shouldn’t be underestimated, and that’s the change in how and what we eat — something I feel is the only real, reliable comfort... Well, that and being able to watch Mystic Pizza. In The Food Almanac, Miranda York puts it more simply: “A sudden drop in temperature stirs the appetite,” she writes, arguing that portions must be generous at this time of year — and I’m inclined to agree, especially given the hand we’re dealt with produce, with a bounty of mushrooms, cabbages and leafy greens, parsnips, potatoes, cauliflowers, beetroots and, perhaps above all else, squashes.
Roasting a squash or blitzing it into a soup may feel heinously obvious at this time of year, but such rituals serve as shortcuts to get us all into that autumnal groove. Each vegetable’s uniquely twisty, knubbly appearance seems inspiring, almost magical — not that they’re just a pretty face (or, in this case table decoration), as winter squashes come in all shapes, sizes and flavours, from the impressive Crown Prince or creamy-textured Delicata to the diddy Acorn or dependable Butternut.
I love this guide from veg whisperer Anna Jones, who takes you through some of the most popular varieties and what you can do with them, including how and when to peel, and how to store them.
Remember, you can also roast the seeds if you don’t want to discard them; check out this guide from The Spruce Eats if you’re not sure what to do.
Roasted Acorn Squash with Saffron Orzotto
The Italian dish orzotto is a version of risotto made not with orzo pasta, as many mistakenly believe, but with earthy pearl barley, a grain I use often for its chewy texture and bite — something that I thought my soft and squidgy roasted squash was crying out for.
I usually make it with porcini mushrooms, their stock and heaps of parmesan, but this time I wanted to borrow some of the warmer, brighter flavours of the Middle East with saffron, harrisa and tangy barberries. You won’t need any cheese or cream going through the orzotto itself, as it ends up sitting on a mound of spiked yoghurt, which melts as the heat hits it. However, for a richer, more Italianate version of saffron orzotto, you can also try Nigella Lawson’s recipe here.
Serves 2
1 Acorn squash
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp chilli flakes
150g pearl barley
1 litre stock
Pinch saffron
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp barberries or cranberries
Toasted almonds
Handful parsley, coriander or mint, chopped
For the yoghurt:
2 tbsp thick yoghurt, mascarpone or crème fraiche
1 heaped tsp harissa
Cut the squash into wedges (removing the seeds but leaving the skin on) and place into a baking dish, throwing over the oregano, fennel seeds, chilli flakes and oil along with a liberal scattering of salt — I used smoked. Roast in a 180C oven for 45 minutes, or until the flesh is soft and the edges are golden.
While it’s cooking, get started on your orzotto, making up one litre of stock and adding the saffron into the jug to infuse with it.
Next, melt a knob of butter in a pan and stir through the pearl barley to coat, then adding the clove of garlic — bashed with the back of a knife — and the bay leaf. Gradually add the stock and saffron mixture, stirring everything to combine. Unlike a normal risotto, you’ll be fine to step away for a bit to leave it to blip, but just keep making sure there’s enough liquid. Cook for 30–40 minutes, or until the pearl barley is cooked but still has a slight bite.
Just before everything’s done, toast some flaked almonds and stir the harissa through the yoghurt.
Serve by spooning a large dollop of the harissa yoghurt onto each plate and spreading outwards slightly, before dishing out the orzotto directly on top, and the roasted squash on top of that — finishing off with some toasted almonds, barberries, some chopped parsley, coriander or mint and a drizzle of olive oil.
Butternut Squash, Chestnut and Mushroom Wellington
This is something I always make but have never had to think up a recipe for, so please forgive what’s essentially just been regurgitated from my brain. Sometimes if I don’t have any chestnuts I’ll throw in half a tin of drained green lentils or some sort of bean like borlotti or cannellini. I’ve also made it before with crumbled goats’ cheese in place of feta as I had some in the fridge, and it worked just as well. It can be made vegan by omitting the cheese altogether, though check the salt levels as you may want a bit of a boost.
Serves 2
1 onion, chopped
½ butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into small chunks
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried sage
Chestnut mushrooms (like two handfuls, idk), chopped
Cooked chestnuts (er, a handful of those?), broken up into small chunks
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
100g-150g feta or goats’ cheese
Cranberries (like half a handful?!)
Breadcrumbs (a small handful, but only if needed — more on that below)
1 sheet puff pastry
Milk or egg to glaze
Fry the onion in oil or butter until soft, then add the squash, garlic and sage. When the squash is almost cooked, around 15 minutes later, add in the mushrooms, chestnuts and mustard and cook for another five minutes.
If the mixture looks a little too wet, throw in a small handful of breadcrumbs and stir through, cooking out for a minute or two. These will help absorb any excess liquid inside the pastry, although I’m not actually too against a soggy bottom; I rather like it.
Stir through the cheese and cranberries, then spread out into a thick log directly onto a sheet of puff pastry that has been laid out on a large piece of greaseproof paper — leaving a couple of inches at either end and side of the pastry.
Fold each end of the pastry in onto the mixture, before carefully folding the longer ends over to meet in the middle as if wrapping a present. If there’s too much of the mixture, simply remove some and save it for another meal as it’s best not to overfill. Gently roll the whole thing over so that all of the seams are on the underside and brush with beaten egg or milk, then bake in the oven at 180C for about half an hour or until all the pastry is golden.
Serve as part of a roast dinner, with mashed potato and vegetables or as a warm lunch with salad.
Soup Joumou
Hailing from Haiti, this dish is so much more than a bowl of soup, as it singlehandedly symbolises freedom from French rule in the 1800s. In a recipe on the Epicurious website, Haitian chef Nadege Fleurimond explains how enslaved Haitians were not allowed to have Soup Joumou when it was a firm favourite of the French colonialists, but when freedom was won on Sunday 1 January 1804, they celebrated with ‘music and food in the Place d’Armes, in the city of Gonaives’ — the spread including the very dish that they had been banned from eating for so long.
It remains a celebratory staple on 1 January each year, with Fleurimond’s recipe featuring beef shank and stewing beef, Calabaza squash, vegetables and a starchy hit of rigatoni pasta.
Goan Butternut Squash Cafreal
There are several squash recipes from Meera Sodha that I love, including a Goan Butternut Squash Cafreal in her brilliant book Fresh India. The page in my copy is well-splattered, and also has an invitation to a wedding in 2018 marking its place, proving how long it’s been bringing me joy.
“Cafreal is an enchanting Goan Portuguese dish traditionally made by cooking chicken in a tangy marinade of fresh coriander, garlic, green chillies and spices,” she writes. “I’ve replaced the chicken with roasted squash, which works well with cafreal’s fierce little kick. The sauce can be blended and cooked in minutes while the squash roasts, making this a great fuss-free recipe and unsung hero of midweek dinners.”
If you don’t have the book, you can find a spin on Sodha’s recipe on the Bon Appetit website below. However, having Fresh India on your shelf is something I cannot recommend enough — for starters, it’s also got plenty more where the cafreal came from, such as the tamarind-spiked Butternut Squash, Aubergine and Red Lentil Sambar and her equally tasty Pumpkin, Bean and Coconut curry, which I seem to remember enjoying when my old housemate Bekky kindly made it for me once.
I also found a recipe for Sodha’s Pumpkin and Walnut Biryani knocking about in the October chapter of The Food Almanac, where she advises trying to track down a Delica pumpkin for ‘flavour and sweetness’— although she says Crown prince or Kabocha squash could also work. It’s definitely a recipe I’m keen to try out, not least because I’m intrigued by the 100g of cranberry sauce that’s mixed with olive oil to create an sweet and sour accompaniment to go alongside.
Tamarind Squash and Halloumi Skewers
Squash and halloumi are the perfect partners — one bringing a gentle sweetness, the other providing a salty kick. I like the look of this BBC Good Food recipe, which sees the two ingredients slicked in a marinade of tamarind, soy, sesame oil, lime, garlic, chilli and brown sugar, before being grilled on skewers.
Claire Thomson also shared a similar idea recently, having roasted a squash with tinned cherry tomatoes, garlic, fennel seeds and oil, and served it up with halloumi and braised brown lentils. Honestly my idea of heaven on a plate.