Vegetarian

Hasselback butternut squash with feta

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Hasselback is an easy and tasty way to cook root vegetables. While potatoes are a traditionally used in this Swedish style of cooking, we’ve added a delicious twist with our hasselback butternut squash recipe here.

Hasselback refers to the way you slice the squash. Slice at around 0.5cm intervals, making sure you don’t slice all the way to the bottom. Place two long wooden spoons either side of the squash. This will help to stop the knife from going all the way through.

Butternut squash is available all year round, but is at its best between September and December. Not only is this versatile ingredient incredibly delicious, it’s also full of wellbeing goodness too. It’s high in a number of important vitamins and minerals – including vitamins A and C. Both of these vitamins have a supportive role in helping our immune system to function properly. They also help to mop up damaging free radicals that our cells produce as a natural part of metabolism.

We recommend serving your hasselback butternut squash recipe with a generous handful of salad leaves or watercress. Watercress is another wellbeing wonder for our immune system. In fact, watercress weight for weight surprisingly contains more vitamin C than an orange, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach and more folate than a banana.

Watch Liz make hasselback butternut squash

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Ingredients

  • 2 large butternut squash
  • 2 tbsp harissa paste
  • 1/2 tbsp lime juice
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 8 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp runny honey
  • 150g feta cheese, roughly chopped
  • Handful of chopped mint
  • Salad leaves or watercress
  • Sea salt

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Prepare the squashes by peeling, slicing in half lengthways and then removing the seeds. Place the squash halves on a chopping board, flat-side down. Make slices in the squash at 0.5cm intervals, making sure not to slice all the way through to the bottom. Transfer carefully to a baking tray, keeping them flat-side down.
  2. To make the sauce, mix the harissa, lime juice, olive oil and garlic in a bowl.
  3. Slot two bay leaves into each squash half and coat the sauce evenly over the squash. Season well with salt. Cover the tray with tin foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
  4. Remove the foil, drizzle over the honey and roast uncovered for a further 30 minutes until the squash is tender.
  5. Remove the bay leaves, sprinkle over the feta, mint and a further squeeze of lime before serving.
  6. Serve with a generous handful of salad leaves or watercress.