Category: squash

Categories
squash turkey

turkey tikka and butternut squash masala curry

When I first started writing posts in this blog, nearly 15 years ago as I type this, my main aim was to log things I cooked so I didn’t have to go find them again. I’m making good on that promise right now!

We enjoyed watching Rosie Jones and Tom Rosenthal try and eat a massive naan, a challenge where you eat the whole thing for a trip to Barcelona, and that was it. We were having curry and naan the next night.

It turned out delicious and Mrs Spud asked “where did you get this recipe?” When I replied I made it up, she was distraught. She loved it and was concerned I’d never be able to make it again, like George and his Marvellous Medicine. So here it is before I forget:

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turkey tikka and butternut squash masala

Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 turkey breasts
  • 500 ml plain yoghurt
  • 1 tablespoon tikka paste
  • 2 tbsp ajwar
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 leek
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 inch piece ginger
  • 400 g tinned tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon tandoori powder
  • 2 tablespoons tahini

Instructions

  • Marinate the turkey breasts for up to 24 hours, but even an hour will do. Combine the yoghurt with the tikka paste, ajwar, the juice of a lemon and add a large pinch of salt. Make 3 or 4 large slashes across the top of the turkey breast and submerge in the yoghurt. Refrigerate until needed.
  • Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel and dice the squash to about 2cm pieces. Coat with a dash of oil, add salt, cumin and coriander and tip into a metal baking tray. Roast for 40 minutes, turning occasionally.
  • Get a large pan over a medium-low heat. Add a tablespoon of oil. Dice the onion and add to the pan. Grate in the garlic and ginger and soften over the heat for 10 minutes.
  • Stir in the tandoori powder and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and raise the heat to bring to a simmer.
  • While this simmers, get another pan or griddle pan over a high heat. When hot, remove the turkey from the marinade and wipe off the excess. Add a small amount of oil to the pan and add the turkey. Sear on both sides until just or nearly cooked (you will finish cooking it in the sauce so don't worry if it's slightly under). This will take 6 - 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the breasts. Try and get some charring on the meat. Leave to rest for 5 minutes while you finish the sauce.
  • Transfer the tomato base to a blender and add the tahini (you can do this with a stick blender or leave it chunky if you prefer). Whizz until smooth then return to the pan over a low heat. Dice the turkey and add to the pan, along with the roast squash and cook together until it's all harmonious and the turkey is cooked through completely. Serve with the largest naan you can find.

Notes

This recipe calls for ajwar, a staple in Eastern European larders and a definite odd ingredient in this list. It's made from aubergines, peppers and other summer veg mashed into a paste to preserve over the winter. Check Polish supermarkets, Turkish delis and often Lidl / Aldi stock it in jars. If you can't find this it can be left out. 
Categories
apples pork potatoes squash

pork fillet with butternut squashti

Mrs. Spud loves Autumn. The crisp mornings, cosy evenings, warm colours… she loves it. Me, I’m not so fussed. I see dark mornings, lights on earlier, long sleeves…

But one thing I do appreciate is the produce. As the bounty of Summer slows, the patient foods appear. The ones that take their time in the earth and develop deep, sumptuous flavours. This recipe is a celebration of those Autumnal flavours, sweet butternut squash, tumbling with sharp apple in a crisp rosti, topped with rich pork.

This is part of the Waitrose #AutumnWarmers campaign, celebrating these flavours. I’ve also selected produce from my corner of England, with Essex pork and Suffolk apples which are some of the best in the world. Check the Waitrose website for more details, including their competition.

The squash rosti – squashti! – is sweet and soft with a crisp skin, topped with delicious pork and drizzled with cider-rich pan juices.

I love a potato rosti and this is a great way to get more veg into your dinners.

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pork fillet with butternut squashti

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 500 g pork fillet

For the rosti:

  • 1 butternut squash deseeded and peeled
  • 1 baking potato peeled
  • 2 sharp apples cored and peeled
  • 1 teaspoon dried sage

For the gravy:

  • A large splash of cider
  • 400 ml chicken stock

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 170C. Get a frying pan over a medium heat.
  • Lay out a clean teatowel. Grate the squash, potato and apple together and spread out over the teatowel. Season generously and scatter over the sage. Gather up the teatowel and squeeze out as much liquid as you can into a sink. The more juice you get out, the crisper it will be. Add a dash of oil to the pan and tip the grated veg into the pan. Squish down into the pan with a spatula and continue to cook for five minutes. After five minutes add a couple of knobs of butter to the edges of the pan. Using a large plate and a dash of confidence flip the rosti out and over. Tidy up the edges with your spatula and transfer to the oven to cook for fifteen minutes.
  • While that cooks get on with the pork. Get another pan over a high heat. Slice the pork into medallions, season with salt and pepper and add a tablespoon of oil. Cook in the pan for 8 - 10 minutes, flipping often until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 65C. Put on a board to rest for five minutes.
  • Add the cider to the pan to deglaze, and when reduced to nearly nothing add the stock and bubble away for a couple of minutes until slightly reduced. Check the rosti is done with a sharp knife - there should be no resistance. Serve with the pork on top and spooned over gravy.

This post was sponsored by Waitrose.

 

Want more Autumnal inspiration? I recommend…

Kavey’s easy butternut squash soup 

Helen’s squash salad

Katie’s pumpkin traybake

Categories
cream cumin food kitchen gadgets squash

butternut squash puree

It’s that time of year when squashes are abundant. When the glory days of pumpkins on 31st October are over there’s still the butternut squashes, acorn, onion, gem, spaghetti… I’ve probably had squash three times in the past week, different every time. Whether it’s blitzed for a pasta sauce, roasted with sausages or thinly sliced and fried, I am a fan.

But I’d never made a puree. Ever popular with the Mastercheferati, I thought it was worth a go. I was very pleased with the result, a super-smooth and sweet puree that worked well with the spicy potato wedges and barbecue ribs. If only there had been more of it on the plate…

What I wasn’t so pleased about was the process. I’ve recently had some kitchen disasters, and here’s another one for the collection. I poured the freshly-cooked squash into my Kenwood Prospero blender and whizzed it up until smooth. As I tried to take the jug off the mixer the bottom fell off, pouring hot liquid squash everywhere. Over the mixer, over the counter, over my feet… a real disaster. I like my mixer very much and I get a whole lot of use out of it, but the attachments have proven less than stable over the years. I’m not convinced I’ll replace like-for-like when the time comes.

Butternut squash puree (serves 4):

½ a butternut squash, deseeded, diced and peeled

A pinch of ground cumin

50ml chicken stock

25ml double cream

  1. Add the squash to a lidded pan with a knob of butter over a medium heat. Add the cumin with salt and pepper and cook for 10 mins stirring often.
  2. Add the stock and cook for a further 10 mins. Add the cream for the last minute and pour into a blender. Whizz up to a fine puree, adding a dash of boiling water from the kettle if necessary. Check for seasoning and keep warm in the pan until needed.
Categories
carrots celery food red onion sage sausages squash

simply sausage ragu

Here’s a dish perfect for this time of year, but still doesn’t feel like stodge-o-rama thanks to the amount of veg involved. The star ingredient is the sausage, a meaty banger from Simply Sausages. I used their No.1 Recipe Smithfield Original, a relatively unadorned sausage which gives the pork plenty of space for flavour. Mrs. Spud and I thought it was quite simply the best sausage we’ve ever eaten.

The technique is inspired by a similar recipe from Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. Essentially process a whole bunch of root veg  and fry with bacon and tomatoes as a sauce base! It’s a recipe with lots of room to maneuver, by just swapping the veg in and out you get a different taste each time. And even if you take it easy it should be 20 mins work, tops.

Thanks to Amanda from ZPR for the sausages!

Simply sausage ragu (serves 4):

6 No.1 Recipe Simply Sausages

2 rashers of bacon

2 carrots, trimmed and peeled

1 stick of celery, trimmed

Bunch of sage

1 red onion, peeled

½ butternut squash

250g penne

2 cloves garlic

1 tin of tomatoes

1 Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot

Good-quality balsamic vinegar

  1. Preheat the grill on medium, get a large pan of salted water on to boil and put a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Get your food processor ready too.
  2. Pop the sausages under the grill and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, turning regularly.
  3. In the food processor whizz up the bacon and add to the pan. While that fries add the carrots, celery, sage and onion to the food processor, whizz that up and add that to the pan. Finally blitz the squash and add that to the same pan. Add some salt and pepper. Toss the veg regularly.
  4. While that cooks in the pan, add the pasta to the water and cook according to the packet instructions.
  5. Crush the garlic into the veg pan, and after a minute or so more’s cooking, add the tin of tomatoes. Half fill the tin with water and add to the pan along with the stock pot. Stir well. If it’s looking a little dry add some of the pasta cooking water to loosen it.
  6. When the sausages are cooked cut into slices, drain the pasta and toss both through the veg. Check for seasoning and serve, dressing with balsamic vinegar.
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