If roast chestnuts are the defining smell of autumn, orange is surely the season’s colour, both outside and inside the kitchen. We have orange leaves on the trees (and ground), fires both inside and out, and fruit bowls filled with seasonal clementines and persimmons, not to mention all the pumpkins.
There are plenty of varieties of fruit squished under the term squash, and pumpkins are just one of them. The range is vast, from all the Asian and African varieties of squash (cucumbers, gherkins, melons, watermelons and gourds) to the North and South American varieties, which are in turn divided into winter and summer squash.
Winter squash have firm, sweet flesh, and feature in their number the parchment-coloured butternut, the deeper orange coquina and the small, round queen squash, which looks rather like a pumpkin. Summer squash – such as courgette and pumpkin – have spongier, more fibrous flesh, so soften a lot when cooked.
I often use pumpkin and squash interchangeably in my cooking, but there are noticeable differences in texture and sweetness that affect the way they need to be handled. The firmness of butternut, coquina and queen squash, for example, means they hold their shape more reliably, and I often cook them with their skin on, because it’s thin enough to eat. Even peeled they still have a relative firmness that prevents the flesh from collapsing altogether when cooked.
I’ve chosen butternut for today’s recipes, because it’s by far the most widely available, but use whatever you can get hold of.
Braised squash with chickpeas and harissa
This is a little meal in itself that packs a bit of a punch and a lot of comfort. If you want to bulk it out, serve with rice. Harissa can be quite fiery, so you may prefer to use a bit less than suggested. Serves four.
60ml olive oil
2-3 banana shallots, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
4 whole cardamom pods, crushed to release the seeds, pods discarded
Salt and black pepper
2½ tbsp harissa paste
½ tsp rose water
500ml vegetable stock
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 4cm dice (800g)
400g tinned cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
7 dried apricots, thinly sliced
20g preserved lemon skin, roughly chopped
10g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
150g Greek yoghurt
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. In a large saute pan for which you have a lid, heat two tablespoons of oil on a medium-high flame. Add the shallots and fry for seven to eight minutes, stirring every so often, until soft and caramelised, then stir in the garlic, spices, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and fry for two minutes longer. Add the harissa, rose water, stock and 200ml water, bring to a boil, then lay in the squash pieces in a single flat layer. Turn down the heat to medium, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes, until almost cooked through.
Take the pan off the heat and transfer the squash to a medium bowl, using a slotted spoon. Add two tablespoons of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and some pepper to the bowl, mix to coat, then spread out the squash on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 20 minutes, until golden-brown and cooked through, then leave to cool.
While the squash is roasting, tip the chickpeas, apricots and preserved lemon into the stock left in the pan, bring to a boil on a medium-high heat and cook for about 12 minutes, until the sauce reduces a little and becomes thick and rich. While they’re cooking, crush a few chickpeas with the back of a spoon, to thicken the mix further.
To serve, divide three-quarters of the squash between individual bowls and spoon over the chickpea sauce. Top with the rest of the squash, sprinkle with the chopped coriander and serve at once with some yoghurt alongside.
Squash gnocchi with caraway and black garlic
I’m not being pedantic in listing the cooked weight for the potato and butternut for this recipe: it’s important to get the proportions right, so the gnocchi are light enough but still hold their shape. The dough is very soft and sticky, which is what makes the texture so soft once cooked. These are lovely just as they are, but serve them with a spoonful of soured cream if you want to make the dish a little richer. With its clash of orange and black, this is about as autumnal a plateful as they come. Serves four.
1 large baking potato (450g)
½ small butternut squash, peeled, trimmed and cut into 2-3cm pieces (340g)
1½ tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
160g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1½ tsp caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
20g peeled black garlic, roughly chopped
1½ tbsp picked thyme leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1½ tsp lemon juice, to serve
30g unsalted butter
20g pumpkin seeds, toasted
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Bake the potato for an hour, until the flesh is soft, then leave to cool a little before peeling; you should end up with 350g potato flesh. Put this in a large bowl and roughly mash.
Toss the squash with a teaspoon and a half of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Spread out on an oven tray lined with baking paper and roast for 30 minutes, until soft and caramelised. Remove, leave to cool a little, then roughly mash with a fork: you should have 250g mashed squash.
Add the mashed squash to the potato, then mix in the flour, caraway seeds and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt until it all comes together into a sticky dough. Tip it out on to a lightly floured worktop and roll into a sausage. Cut into three equal pieces and use your hands to push and stretch each piece into a 35cm long x 3cm wide sausage. Cut each sausage into 20 or so 1.5cm-wide slices, dusting with more flour as you go, so they don’t stick to the worktop. Gently press one side of each slice with the back of a floured fork, to leave an indentation, and place on a floured baking tray.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil, then drop in half the gnocchi and boil for one to two minutes, until they float to the surface. As the gnocchi cook and rise, lift them out with a slotted spoon and put on a large oven tray. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi, then leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Mash the black garlic to a paste with the thyme, lemon zest, a tablespoon of oil and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, ideally using a pestle and mortar.
Heat the butter in a large saute pan on a medium flame, and cook for two to three minutes, until it starts to burn and smell nutty. Stir in the pumpkin seeds for a minute, until they start to pop, then add the gnocchi and black garlic paste, and stir gently, until the gnocchi are coated all over. Take off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and serve at once.
Rough squash mash with miso, chilli and cinnamon
The cinnamon makes this a great side dish for all sorts of festive fare. Serves four.
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks (900g)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp white miso
2 green jalapeño chillies, cut in half lengthways
2 large cinnamon sticks, broken in two
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
4 bay leaves
4 large garlic cloves
Salt
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl with a teaspoon of salt and three tablespoons of water. Mix well (use your hands), then tip into a high-sided 20cm x 30cm roasting tray into which everything fits snugly. Roast for 35 minutes, until soft and caramelised, then remove and leave to cool for five minutes.
Tip the contents of the tray into a large bowl, and lift out the cinnamon sticks and bay. Squeeze out the flesh from the garlic cloves and discard the skins, then roughly mash everything together with the back of a fork. Serve warm, with the aromatics spooned on top, if you like, by way of garnish.
