Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Ottolenghi

Roasted Squash with Tahini and Za’atar from ‘Jerusalem’

There is an abundance of winter squash available at the moment; classic Butternut squash, sweeter Coquina squash, round squash and from the same family, pumpkins, delightful munchkins, marrows and globe courgettes. I like experimenting with different varieties and as soon as I bought these home I knew that I wanted to try a recipe from Yotam Ottoleghi and Sami Tamimi’s new book Jerusalem for roasted squash with tahini and za’atar. There is plenty more for me to explore inside the latest addition to my cookery book shelf and you can find lots of Ottoleghi recipes to try over at The Guardian, too.

Squash

First, the squash is roasted in the oven with olive oil, onions, salt and pepper 

Roasted Squash

 Next, you make a tahini sauce with tahini paste, lemon garlic and salt. Then you sprinkle over some of the Middle Eastern spice za’atar.

I’m missing toasted pine nuts and parsley!  

Roasted Squash Tahini Za'atar 

I hope I’m in time to link this post up to the October One Ingredient Challenge co-hosted by Nazima at her new blog Franglais Kitchen and Laura at How to Cook Good Food. By coincidence, Nazima made this dish, too, adding grilled halloumi and polenta.

Nazima will also be rounding up October’s Simple and in Season event and in a couple of days, Simple and in Season will be back home at Fabulicious Food! for November –  I hope you’ll join in!

Baked Aubergine (Yotam Ottolenghi Recipe)

I have to say that when I popped into my local Morrisons store this week, I did not expect to be met by such an amazing array of seasonal fruit and vegetables. I almost started taking photographs, but held back, in case someone thought I was mad. They did recently refurbish the store and so now it has a true ‘market’ feel but the produce was really far beyond anything I’ve ever seen at a supermarket in Britain before. Much of it was organic, there was also a section of locally grown produce as well as more unusual varieties of fruits and vegetables, such as the graffiti aubergines and the candy striped beetroot below, as well as fresh pomegranates. There must have been at least twenty different varieties of chili, fresh herbs and salad leaves kept watered and fresh, British heritage varieties of apples, pears as well as bang-in-season fresh spinach, artichokes, salsify, wild mushrooms, really everything you could imagine or look for. I am converted. It is so encouraging to see supermarkets really starting to support and push British seasonal produce and offer it at a reasonable cost.

Find the recipe here:

When I came home I immediately dived into one of my favourite cook books, Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi  to find a recipe for Aubergines with Buttermilk Sauce. I didn’t have lemon thyme, so I just used grated lemon zest and that seemed to work fine. Everything else was as Yotam suggests.

I will say without hesitation that this dish is simple to prepare – watch the lovely Yotam make it on You Tube here – (I could just keep this playing and listen to it all day!) When cooked, it looks visually beautiful (perfect for a dinner party) and tastes delicious. I was happy to be able to use some of my Steenbergs Za’atar  (Steenbergs make organic and Fairtrade herbs and spices) which was screaming to be used since being found inside my goodie bag from Food Blogger Connect over the summer. All in all, a fun and inspiring trip to the shops and a simple but tasty lunch!  I will be linking this up with Simple and in Season where already the entries are coming in thick and fast!

 

This week I also got to meet Karen from Lavender and Lovage for lunch. Karen is based in South West France and has immersed herself this year into food blogging, having been already made a career out of professional food writing, photography and food styling, writing features and columns for Country Kitchen magazine as well as other British publications. Karen and I easily spent almost three hours chatting about food, blogging and how much we both enjoy being part of such a friendly online community.  We both said how much we enjoyed finally meeting one another, it’s always lovely to be able to meet in person, in addition to enthusiastically tweeting and commenting on posts! Karen was very sweet to my children and bought me some lovely French chocolat au Citron Noir (delicious) and also these beautiful cabbage plants. In the time that we spent together I also became slightly addicted to the Oreo Cookie Hot Chocolate I was drinking ay the Secret Garden Cafe in St Albans! Thank you Karen for my gifts and for coming to meet us.

So that’s it for now, the end of another busy half-term week. A burst pipe in my kitchen is being fixed as I type, Halloween is looming, I have to work on my macaron making skills as I have been sent a lovely gift set to try by Lakeland and next week will mark my first year of blogging milestone! I’ve also been challenged to take part in a video blogging competition, which I’m very nervous about but will do my best! 

Later today I’ll also be announcing the winner of the Leon Baking & Puddings cook book giveaway which has been very popular. There’s still time to enter if you haven’t already. 

What are your plans for the weekend? Have you been inspired by any produce or cookbooks this week?