Roasted Butternut Squash with red onions and goat's cheese

Okay, this is a dish I'm really proud of. It's an adaptation of a mix between a Nigella Lawson recipe and a Valentine Warner recipe I saw on his show. The primary component is butternut squash, that fantastic vegetable (is it a vegetable actually?) that The Economist and I eat over and over again all winter because its delicious, really healthy, really versatile and because at home as children we both ate butternut squash (or sometimes yams or sweet potatoes), cooked, mashed up, slathered with butter and buried in brown sugar. As an adult I've learned to appreciate the natural sweetness of butternut squash. In this recipe it is more savory than sweet though. It's just cubed and roasted with chunks of red onion (which also goes sweet in the oven), seasoned with herbs and dotted with tangy goat's cheese, melting and oozing on the top.

As delicious as butternut squash is, it's actually kind of a pain to get to its flesh. For some recipes you can get by just halving it, but for this recipe I want cubes. Here is how I do it.

I think you're supposed to, but I don't bother to wash the outside. Mistake?

I split the squash (I've used two here) in half lengthwise. This can be difficult because the flesh is so hard. Or it might be because I have the crappiest knives in existence. I don't peel, again, probably because I have the crappiest peeler in existence.

Once they're split, I use a sharp-edged spoon to gouge out the seeds as cleanly as I can. I have moderate success with this.

Then I take each length of squash and cut it into 1-2cm sections.

Then I take each section, and pare off the skin, a small piece at a time, leaving me with a pile of skin slivers. There is a bit of wastage this way, but I find it clean, methodical and satisfying knifework.

...Little more...

Plus you end up with nice even chunks of flesh. The Nigella recipe says to leave the skins on, but I've tried that and it's no good. The skin just doesn't taste very good.

Then I peel some red onions, I used 3 medium ones this time.

Cut them into thick-ish chunks. You want some skinny bits to burn and caramelize and the thicker parts to get soft, sweet and moist.

Once everything is cut up, I spread it out in pans. I've got one medium pan and a second small pan for some over flow. Coat everything in a few spoonfuls of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add some sage (I used dried) and thyme (I had fresh, so I used that, dried is fine too) and mix it all up to coat. Stick it in the oven; it will take about half an hour.

Before it goes in. It's so pretty!

Once it's roasted and the squash is cooked through, you can divide it between plates (or I guess put it on one big serving platter).

And crumble some goat's cheese on top. The goat's cheese is nice and salty and sharp. The onions are sweet and juicy. The squash is sort of savoury and sweet too. It's good as a whole dinner or a side dish. Bon apetit!

RECIPE PROFILE

Type: Dinner or Side Dish

Classification: Vegetarian