Dee Haigh

Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp butter, melted

2 large acorn squash, halved and de-seeded

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

250g cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

80g raisins

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp Ras el hanout

450ml strong vegetable (or chicken) stock

175g uncooked couscous

Method:

Place the acorn squash halves cut-side down on a lightly-oiled baking tray and place in an oven pre-heated to 180°C. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile dissolve the sugar by mixing into the melted sugar. When the squash halves are ready brush them liberally with this mixture and set aside to keep warm.

Add the olive oil to a frying pan and use to fry the garlic, celery and carrots for 5 minutes. Mix-in the chickpeas and raisins then add the cumin and Ras el hanout before seasoning with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender before adding the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer then add the couscous. Cover the pan and take off the heat.

Allow the couscous to cook for 5 minutes, undisturbed. Use this mixture to stuff the squash halves and serve immediately.

Making your own pesto is a doddle: The quantities here will fill a jam jar and keep in the fridge for about a week. It’s hard to be more precise about the amount of oil you need to use; I’ve said ¼ pint, so add the oil very slowly until you think the pesto has reached the right consistency. (Your probably won’t need this much.) Swap the ingredients around to suit yourself, try different flavoured oils and use whichever combination of nuts, seeds and herbs you like.

You will need

* 75 g Mixed Nuts and Seeds

* 25 g Flax Seeds

* 1 small Aubergine

* 2 Cloves of Garlic

* 1 Sprig of Rosemary

* ½ Packet of Fresh Mint

* 25 g Grated Parmesan

* 1 tbsp Tomato Purée

* Black Pepper

* 120 ml Olive Oil

* Cooking Time:

* 25 minutes

* Oven Temperature:

* 200° c  -  390° f

Step 1:

Cut the aubergine into fairly thick slices and soak in a bowl of very salty water for about 20 minutes, then drain, rinse well and dry with kitchen paper.

Step 2:

Heat half the quantity of oil in a large frying pan and preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200c).

Step 3:

Fry half the aubergine slices in the hot oil for a few minutes, turning once, then transfer to a small roasting tin. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the rest of the aubergine, again transferring the cooked aubergine to the roasting tin.

Step 4:

Snip the rosemary up and sprinkle over the aubergine then add the crushed garlic to the roasting tin and put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the aubergines are completely soft and cooked through. All the oil that was soaked up during frying should now be swimming around in the tin.

Step 5:

Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready then put the aubergines and all the oil into a blender or food processor with everything else and blend or pulse to make a coarse paste, scraping the pesto down from the sides every few seconds.

Step 6:

Pack the pesto into a clean jar and pour another 2 tsp of olive oil on top.

Step 7:

Store in the fridge for a week.