Butternut squash was on special this week and felt like just the thing to cook on a wintry day. Sometimes pumpkin soup just doesn’t sound exciting though! I came up with this easy weeknight recipe using a simple scone dough base and it was just perfect. We served it with a simple green salad to make a healthy, balanced, tasty meal. I encourage you to try it.

For the base:

1 cup plain white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch each salt, cayenne, pepper, mustard powder

25 grams butter

100 ml milk

1 cup grated cheese

For the topping:

1/2 butternut squash

2 onions

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup cream cheese

Handful fresh thyme, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/3 cup walnut pieces

Olive oil

Turn the oven on to 200 degees. Place the half butternut skin side down on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for about 30-40 until tender. Allow to cool. While the butternut is baking, caramalise the onion and make the base.

Slice the onion finely. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan and cook the onions on a very low heat for about 20 minutes, turning regularly. You might like to add a splash of wine, pinch of salt and sugar, but these are optional.

To make the dough, place the flour, baking powder, spices and butter in a food processor and run until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk and cheese and pulse until a ball of dough has formed. Turn out onto a floured oven tray and roll out with a rolling pin until about 1cm thick and roughly round in shape. Rustic is good!

Once the butternut is cool enough to handle, peel the skin off, discard the seeds, and chop the flesh into 2cm chunks. To assemble, spread the cream cheese over the base. Next, sprinkle the onion, butternut, walnuts, chopped thyme and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until the base is golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve with a fresh green salad.

Working with a U.S colleague has introduced me to some weird and wonderful grocery items and recipes. But the jar of ‘Everything Bagel’ seasoning that she brought in one day for us to try on our avocado toast made me sit up and take notice. It’s basically everything you get on an everything bagel-in a jar! Of course we can’t buy it here in NZ, but I had a pretty good crack at making my own tonight. I can’t recommend it highly enough on avocado, but it was also extraordinarily good on these thinly sliced and baked potatoes. Go on, try it…you won’t look back!

Everything Bagel Seasoning:

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Baked Potato Slices:

• 3 large Agria potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Using a mandolin or sharp knife, cut the washed unpeeled potatoes into thin slices. Toss with olive oil and spread in a single layer on an oven tray. Bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes until soft but not yet brown.

Turn the potato slices and sprinkle with seasoning. Bake until golden and crunchy (approximately a further 10-15 minutes).

I served mine with a zingy homemade tomato salsa, but they would be great with guacamole, aioli, or hummus.

This is the salad you have when you need fresh veges now, but still have a big hunger. It has a wonderful variety of colours, textures and flavours, and the zingy dressing really makes it sing. You do need about an hour to whip this meal up, but it’s totally worth the wait!

Ingredients:

• 1 400 gram packet firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 cm fresh ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 3 potatoes
• 2 kumara (sweet potatoes)
• 1 head broccoli
• 2 cups baby kale
• 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Olive oil

Dressing:

• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 tablespoons miso paste
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan bake.

To marinate the tofu, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and cornflour in a dish, cube the tofu and toss to cover. Set aside.

Cube the potato and sweet potato, toss with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and salt to taste, and roast, stirring occasionally until brown and crispy (approximately 40 minutes). Leave to cool.

Chop the broccoli into small florets, toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and roast until tender but golden (approximately 20 minutes). Leave to cool.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan and toss the tofu until brown and crunchy. Leave to cool.

Toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until light brown. Tip into a bowl with the cooled vegetables and the baby kale.

To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together. Gently stir through salad.

Serve in a big bowl and enjoy! Serves 4-5.

Proving that salads do not have to be limp or boring, and can constitute a meal on their own! This is a salad that combines a mixture of flavours and textures, and contains everything you need and want in a meal. It’s a great winter meal as all the vegetables are in season and it’s a bit more substantial than your average salad.

As with most of my recipes, you could mix and match most of these ingredients; feel free to swap the pecans with any nuts or seeds; eggs with scrambled tofu or butter beans; or  add avocado, beetroot, tomato etc. The croutons make the recipe take a bit longer to prepare but I think the crunch makes it worth it. I would recommend always starting with super fresh spinach and good olive oil for the dressing. After that the sky’s the limit!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and roughly chopped

1 handful fresh rocket, washed

1 handful fresh mint, chopped

4 eggs, hard boiled

1/2 head broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces and lightly steamed or boiled

1/2 cup pecans, toasted

2 slices wholegrain bread

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil (or use all olive oil for a vegan option)

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Dressing:

2 tablespoons good quality olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar for a different approach)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

Juice of half a lemon

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon honey

To make the salad, add the cooked and cooled broccoli, salad leaves (whatever combination you choose) and pecans to a large bowl. Roughly chop the eggs and stir through.

Melt the butter and/or oil in an ovenproof dish. Chop the bread into cubes and toss through the hot oil with the garlic salt. Bake at 200 degrees until crispy and golden.

Allow the croutons to cool slightly, then stir through the salad.

Add all the dressing ingredients to a jar and shake until creamy. Season to taste. Toss through the salad along with any other ingredients you’ve opted for, and knock yourself out!

Friday night, needing some greens but low on motivation. Allow me to introduce your new best friend; pesto! Pesto is a great way to get a whole lot of greens into your meal and use up whatever herbs you have lying around. Tonight I scavenged some rocket and mint from my garden and mixed them with a few store-cupboard ingredients to make a vitamin cocktail!

So, here’s my ‘recipe’. It’s more of a guideline really.

Green Winter Pesto

2 handfuls rocket

1 handful mint

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 lemon, juice and zest

2 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons Parmesan, grated (optional)

Blend all the pesto ingredients together. You might need a splash of pasta water to loosen the mixture. Serve with pasta and vegetables, toasted walnuts and a good serving of Parmesan or vegan Parmesan. I used wholemeal spaghetti, broccoli, cauliflower and leek.

This was a seriously tasty, easy to make meal using store-cupboard ingredients. I used a  recipe from The foodie takes flight,and it seriously tastes as good as it looks.

Serve it with steamed green vegetables for a healthy weeknight meal.

Ingredients

• 2 blocks extra firm tofu (around 240g each), sliced into 1-inch cubes
• 1 heaping tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt (for the tofu)
• 2 tbsp canola oil, for pan-frying
• ½ cup bell pepper, sliced into squares
• 1 onion, sliced into squares
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt, to taste
• Sesame seeds and cilantro, for topping

Sweet and Sour Sauce

• 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tbsp Sriracha, optional
• 4 tbsp sugar (I used coconut sugar), adjust according to desired sweetness
• 3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 3 tbsp water

​Instructions

I lifted this recipe straight from yesterday’s Dominion Post. It comes from Lisa and Brent Quarrie from Hayes Common and is absolutely delicious, not to mention easy to make and very adaptable.  I have written it here as it appeared in the paper, but I made a few changes to my own dish…

I used the Thai Yellow Curry spice paste from in my fridge-about 3 tablespoons and it was beautiful.  We also didn’t have most of the accompaniments that they suggest, so we used roasted peanuts, fried shallots, chopped chilli, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, coriander, and chopped red onion. I encourage you to be creative and try your own toppings!

INGREDIENTS

Spice paste

You can use 3-4 tbsp of packaged red or yellow curry paste, but it is fun to make your own. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on the list, you can omit, substitute, and create. Use what you’ve got on hand. Butternut soaks up flavours like a sponge.

3 garlic cloves
1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cm piece fresh turmeric, or 2 tsp ground turmeric
2 macadamias, almonds or brazil nuts
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 piece lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
Half an onion, diced
3 tsp maple syrup
Pinch salt

Other ingredients

3 tbsp coconut (or vegetable) oil
650g butternut (or pumpkin, kumara or potato), chopped into 2-3cm cubes
1 bay leaf
2 pieces lemongrass, knotted (or lemon zest, or lemongrass in a jar)
120ml coconut milk
2 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
1 tbsp fried shallots
3 kaffir lime leaves
400ml water

Method

Start by making the spice paste. Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until well combined into a golden yellow paste flecked with chilli and tomato skin.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot or a wok over medium heat and fry the spice paste for 30 seconds. Add the bay leaf, lemongrass and lime leaves and toss for 30 seconds.

Add chopped butternut to the pot and fry for 1 minute, then add the water and simmer until the butternut has softened and cooked through – about 30 minutes.

Add coconut milk and fried shallots – and soy or fish sauce – and gently simmer for 1 minute, until slightly thickened, then serve with steamed rice and any of the following accompaniments for an interactive family meal: chopped cucumber, roasted cashews, toasted coconut, eggplant or tomato sambal, cherry tomatoes, fresh coriander, sliced spring onion, crispy shallots, sliced chilli, grilled chicken, or tempeh, or meatballs.

The teenager was on dinner and the contents of the fridge were looking grim. He managed to scrape together a reasonable selection of vegetables; potato, peas, beans and carrots. With a bit of magic he had the house smelling amazing, and had created a really tasty, nutritious curry for us all.

Again, more a suggestion than a recipe. Any vegetables could be substituted; kumara would be great, as would chickpeas, mushrooms or spinach. He used a korma paste but any curry paste would work.

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 potato

3 tablespoons curry paste (from a jar)

1 carrot

3/4 cup frozen beans

3/4 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup vegetable stock

3/4 cup coconut cream (about half a tin)

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Cook the onion, garlic and potato until lightly browned. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring until fragrant.  Add the beans and carrots and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Put the peas, stock, and coconut cream in and reduce to a simmer. Cook with the lid on until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Serve with steamed rice and a dollop of coconut yogurt.