Roasted Butternut Squash with Spiced Chickpeas, Spinach and Goats Cheese, made with parsley, lemon and roasted garlic and chickpeas.
ingredients
(Serves 2)
Prep/Cooking time: 15mins.
If cooking on open coals: prepping the hot mature
coals takes 30-45min
Ingredients:
- 1 Medium Butternut squash
- 1 whole garlic bulb
- Olive oil
- 1 tbsp. Paprika
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 tsp. Cumin
- 1 small Onion finely chopped
- 2 roasted Garlic cloves
- 1 tin chickpeas drained
- ¼ bunch parsley roughly chopped
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 100g goats cheese
- 1 cup baby spinach
How to make it…
Prepare a nice hot bed of mature coals. Make a well in the coals and place in whole squash, cover squash as best you can – don’t worry if its not completely buried you can turn it half way through cooking. On the edge of the coals place the whole garlic blub on top where it’s not too hot, roast for 20-30mins depending on heat of the coals. You can then add some of the roasted cloves to the squash fillings.
While the squash is roasting place a grill about 10-15cm above the coals and place a frypan on the grill.
For the vegetarian filling:
In the pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, add in 2 roasted garlic cloves crushed or finely chopped, plus paprika, cumin, and salt and pepper. Heat for a minute or so then add in onion and cook for another 3 minutes or until onions soften and start to brown. Add in chickpeas and half a lemon flesh side down into the pan so it starts to char. Once chickpeas are heated through, take off the heat, squeeze in the lemon juice of the charred lemon and stir through parsley. Set aside until squash is ready. Stuff each squash half with the filling.
Lay in spinach leaves first, then chickpea mixture and crumble goats’ cheese on top. Serve each half to your guests with extra greenery dressed with a little olive oil and squeeze of lemon if desired. Scoop the flesh and filling out, leaving the coal crusted skin behind.
Recipe and styling by Lauren Becker
www.laurenbeckerstyling.com