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    Tuesday, December 02, 2008

    Honeyed Buttercup Squash-Vegetarian Starter

    This is a quick blog…I have just finished making and eating this dish.
    Inspired by Jun Tanaka on Market Kitchen.
    The plan is to cook it for dinner tomorrow night and it will be a starter for 4 people.
    I decided to give it a trial tonight…we ate it all …just the two of us.
    The sweetness of the squash, enhanced by the honey and grapes, and the wonderful saltiness of the cheese along with the crunch of pine nuts.

    Just excellent

    I used buttercup squash instead of butternut
    And White Castello cheese instead of soft goats cheese which was looking expensive at the supermarket.

    Ingredients
    2 tbs Olive oil
    1 Butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded cut into bite-size chunks
    1 knob of Butter
    1 tablespoon clear honey
    1 handful pine nuts
    1 handful green grapes
    Goat's cheese, such as St Tola or in my case White Castello

    For the Salad
    1 tsp Dijon mustard
    1/2 lemon, juice only
    Olive oil
    1 handful rocket
    1 handful watercress leaves

    Heat the olive oil in a pan until very hot.
    Add the squash cubes and cook for 15-20 minutes until soft and golden (they should be just tender, but not loosing their shape). I popped them into the oven 180C 16 minutes.
    Season well with salt and pepper.

    Stir in the butter and honey, then
    add the pine nuts and grapes and cook for a further minute.

    For the salad:
    Whisk together the mustard, lemon juice and olive oil, then season.
    Toss the rocket and watercress in the vinaigrette.

    To serve
    Place squash on plates,
    Crumble over the goat's cheese and
    Arrange the dressed salad on top.

    5 comments:

    Maryam in Marrakesh said...

    This sounds really delicious. did your guests enjoy it?

    So So Simple said...

    yes they loved it so did we.

    Unknown said...

    yummy yummy! our buttercup will be the first lot finished from the batch of summer crop. we just love this nutty flavour. how are you, Gilli?

    Anonymous said...

    This Honeyed Buttercup Squash looks so beautiful with the colors, I'm sure it'll be a big hit with the kids! Nice colors! Although I'm to a big fan of Squash, this sure looks yummy! I'm normally the one that will say no to Buttercup Squash.

    So So Simple said...

    MaxMickle Like to hear of the kids liked it. White Castello might be a little strong for them but let me know.
    Cheers