Roasted butternut squash with butterbeans and feta

I made my roast butternut squash, butter bean and feta salad when we went away to a cottage for mother in law Spread’s 70th birthday. Gipsy Spread decided to marinade a leg of lamb from Ottolenghi’s recipe in 'Jerusalem'. Contributions were also provided by the rest of the family who gathered.

Now, I have been roasting and eating squash since it first started appearing in our supermarkets over 15 years ago. I have memories of roasting it skin on with chillies and garlic in the warehouse I shared with five photographers in Hackney inbetween my under grad and post grad degrees - it was the year 2000. I was actually once that cool.

So, it was a surprise when everyone kept worrying about how I was roasting my squash at the cottage. The squash does not burn, but does need to caramelise for my recipe; for it to be at its sweetest and to contrast greatest with the sublimely salty feta.

So what you will need
1 small butternut squash
3-4 cloves of garlic
4 dried chillies
2 fresh or dry bay leaves
2 tins of butterbeans
3-4 red onions
1 packet of feta cheese
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of capers
Fresh lemon thyme

Firstly, peel and de-seed the squash then cube the flesh into even sized pieces. You don’t want these to be too big as otherwise they will take longer to cook and will not roast evenly. Peel and slice each of the onions in half and then each half into thirds. Crush the garlic and add to a roasting tin with the onions, bay leaves, dried chillies and squash and lightly coat in olive oil, seasoning well. Place the roasting tin in a preheated oven at 200 degrees. They should take approximately an hour to roast, which includes dark, caramelised corners and edges.

In the meantime, you can dress the butterbeans. Drain the tins of butterbeans and place in a large bowl. In a dressing jar, mix up your vinaigrette. Place about ¾ olive oil in the jar with ¼ white wine vinegar, the chopped capers, a sqeeze of fresh lemon juice and the leaves from the lemon thyme. Season the dressing and taste to ensure the balance between vinegar and oil is right for you and amend if necessary.

Once the squash and onions have roasted, serve them on the butterbeans with the dressing and crumble over the feta. This should serve 4-6 people. If it’s just me and Gipsy Spread, we would normally make half as much and I might have some left over for a work lunch.

 

Well, after the birthday, I was asked for the recipe by both mother in law Spread and also my brother in law, so the caramelised squash speaks for itself. This is a highly satisfying meal and Gipsy Spread will sometime have some meat or sausages with this also. Tonight, it was a piri piri cod fillet.

This last picture is with the jerk halloumi, rather than feta, as I had it already marinaded and ready to eat from the other night. I will replace with a picture of the true recipe, with feta soon.