Roasted butternut squash, rosemary and pumpkin seed scones

I found a fantastic recipe from the book 'Cornucopia', a vegetarian cookbook from a Dublin restaurant of the same name. They were easy to cook, but you had to factor in 25 minutes to roast the butternut squash beforehand. It was well worth it.

 

Ingredients:

400-500g of butternut squash cut into 1/2cm cubes

Extra virgin olive oil

5 sprigs of rosemary

50g of pumpkin seeds

450g plain white flour

230g wholemeal brown flour

1 1/2tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

225g butter/margarine

150ml milk

 

Method:

 

Heat the oven to 180c.

 

Roast the butternut squash with the rosemary (cut into very fine pieces) and extra virgin olive oil

 

Whilst this is roasting, sieve both the flours, baking powder and salt together and mix in the butter. When the butternut squash is roasted, leave it to cool and then add to the misture along with half the pumpkin seeds. Make a well in the middle and add the milk. Mix together to form a dough - trying not to break up all the butternut squash. If it's too dry add some milk; too wet add some more flour.

 

Roll out to 4cm thick and cut out about 12 circles using the top of a glass tumbler. Place on a greased tray and brush each scone with some milk. Divide the remaining pumpkin seeds onto the scones and bake in the centre of oven for 25-30 minutes. Try not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes as they may not rise.

 

I froze half the batch so I have ready made pack lunch for the rest of the week.

A new discovery: Spaghetti Squash

I purchased my first spaghetti squash the other day from our local greengrocer's. It was the first time I'd seen one for sale so I thought I would give it a try. I was amazed that the strands inside the squash actually did resemble spaghetti (well, more accurately, noodles), but are ten times less calorific, according to one website I stumbled upon.

After googling some recipes, I decided to simply cut the squash in half and roast it in the oven in a casserole dish with some extra virgin olive oil, garlic and herbs. I filled the dish with hot water to accelerate the cooking and roasted some vegetables at the same time. Unfortunately, the squash took ages to cook and I had to take it out of the oven prematurely (we were going to the cinema). It was in for 45 minutes, but I think it needed an hour. I zapped it in the microwave for 5 minutes, but I think it would have been better to leave it in the oven.

Once ready, I scraped out the noodle-like strands and mixed them with the roasted vegetables, some more extra virgin olive oil and some grated cheddar cheese.

A great alternative to pasta!

Weird strands of squash!