Roasted Spicy Squash With Nuts And Beans

Autumn is on our doorstep, and although the past few days have been deliciously warm, the gathering crispy leaves on our driveway tell us that very soon the temperature will drop and we will have a never ending battle with the leaves.

This time of year there is one vegetable that seems to be an essential addition to the shopping trolley – butternut squash. I found a recipe on the Waitrose website which I wanted to try because it looked ridiculously easy. Oh how we love to have a collection of easy recipes for days when it really not convenient to spend hours in the kitchen. I have never bought frozen butternut squash before, but we thought we would give this a try and see how this vegetable dish turned out.

INGREDIENTS

300g frozen butternut squash
1 red onion, cut into chunks
1 aubergine, diced
40g mixed nuts, roughly chopped
200g can butter beans, drained and rinsed
350g tub essential Waitrose Tomato & Chilli Sauce
1 tbsp chopped chives

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

Mix together the butternut squash, onion, aubergine, nuts and butter beans in a roasting tin, stir in the sauce and 50ml water. Bake for thirty minutes until tender.

Sprinkle with chopped chives to serve. (Yes it is as easy as that!!!)

So….what is the verdict? Well, in my own opinion, the highlight of the dish in the eating, was the nuts. The rest of the dish seemed to merge into similar textures. I could barely discern the difference in the veggies and beans because they were all fairly soft and just tasted of that spicy tomato sauce. Fortunately the spicy tomato sauce was very nice. But I loved the nuts bringing a different dimension to this dish, and if we do try it again, I think I will add more nuts.

I think we will be adding this to autumn dinners – quick, easy, tasty – what more could we ask?