If you want a vegetarian dish to make an impact on the table, this does the job - it looks great and has really complex flavours.
Best Roasted Butternut Squash with Tahini and Za'atar
Charles SapirRoast butternut squash and red onion with tahini and Za'atar
Charles Sapir
4
10 minutes
45 minutes
Middle Eastern
Vegetarian
If you want a vegetarian dish to make an impact on the table, this does the job - it looks great and has really complex flavours.
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash (around 1.1kg), cut into 2cm x 6cm wedges
2 red onions, cut into 3cm wedges
50ml olive oil
Maldon sea salt and black pepper
3½ tbsp. TAHINI
1½ tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp water
1 small garlic clove, crushed
30g pine nuts
1 tbsp ZA'ATAR
1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
Directions
Heat the oven to to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the squash and onions in a large bowl, add three tablespoons of oil, a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper, and toss well. Spread, skin down, on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes until the vegetables have taken on some colour and are cooked through. Keep an eye on the onions: they may cook faster than the squash, so may need to be removed earlier. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Put the TAHINI in a small bowl with the lemon juice, water, garlic and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Whisk to the consistency of honey, adding more water or tahini as necessary.
Pour the remaining oil into a small frying pan on a medium-low heat. Add the pine nuts and half a teaspoon of salt, cook for two minutes, stirring, until the nuts are golden brown, then tip the nuts and oil into a small bowl.
To serve, spread the vegetables on a platter and drizzle over the sauce. Scatter the pine nuts and oil on top, followed by the ZA'ATAR and parsley.