Roast squash with garlic and thyme

Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main

Simple but delicious recipe for roast squash with garlic, olive oil and thyme.

Ingredients:

• 650 grams butternut flesh, cut into 2 cm slices
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 25 grams butter
• Salt and pepper
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 6 garlic cloves, finely sliced

Instructions

1. Put the olive oil and butter in a shallow roasting tin and heat gently. Add the wedges of squash and season well. Pull the leaves off the thyme and scatter those on, too, with some seasoning. Turn the wedges over, making sure you get herbs, fat and seasoning all over them.
2. Put into an oven preheated to 190 °C/375 °F/gas mark 5 and roast for 30-35 minutes, or until tender and slightly caramelized. Baste the squash pieces every so often while they’re cooking and sprinkle the garlic over 15 minutes before the end of cooking time. Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy

total time: 1 hour
preparing time: 15 minutes
cook/baking time: 45 minutes

Pumpkin tarts with spinach and Gorgonzola

Yield: serves 4

Pumpkin tarts with spinach and Gorgonzola could be served as a starter. You can make the pastry and roast the squash ahead of time

Ingredients:

PASTRY

• 225 grams plain flour, Ulrike: wheat flour Type 405
• 175 grams butter
• 1 good pinch salt
• a little very cold water

FILLING

• 300 grams pumpkin or squash
• olive oil
• 250 grams spinach, frozen, thawed
• 2 large eggs, size M
• 100 ml single cream
• 30 grams Parmesan, grated
• nutmeg, freshly grated
• 80 grams Gorgonzola

Instructions

1. For the pastry ift the flour with the salt. Rub the butter into the flour until a breadcrumb texture is achieved. Add just enough water to make the pastry come together. Wrap it in foil or clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 180° C/gas mark 4. Cut your pumpkin from top to bottom into broad slices, remove the inner stringy bits and seeds, and peel. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until just tender.
3. Make the custard by mixing together the whole eggs, cream and Parmesan. Season well. Roll out the rested pastry and line the moulds of the cup pie set. Chill for another 30 minutes (or just stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes). Prick the bottom of the tart and bake blind – line the pastry with greaseproof paper and put ceramic baking beans or ordinary dried beans on top – in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for another 4 minutes.
4. Cut the pumpkin into small slices. Squeeze every last bit of water from the thawed spinach and chop it up. Season both of these and add some freshly grated nutmeg to the spinach.
5. Spread the spinach over the bottom of the tart case, then add the slices of pumpkin and dot with nuggets of Gorgonzola.
6. Pour the custard mixture over the tart and bake, again at 180 °C/gas mark 4, for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden. Leave for 10 minutes to let the custard finish cooking and set a little once you have taken it out of the oven.

total time: 1 h 30 minutes
preparation time: 30 minutes
cook-/baking time: 25 – 30 minutes