Meals for under £10: Stuffed butternut squash

This is a perfect midweek supper, with half a small butternut about the right size for a main course portion.

The skin of a butternut is thin, so once cooked, you can eat this too and then you’ll get all the nutrients and antioxidants concentrated just below it.

Alternatively, use a small stuffed butternut squash as a side veg, but leave out the cheese. For two as a main course, four as a side dish.

You’ll Need:

1 butternut squash (about 1kg)
1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
100g soft goats’ cheese, crumbled
About 12 sage leaves, finely shredded
Small bunch of chives, finely chopped
100g hazelnuts, dry-fried and roughly chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
To serve:
1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
About 20 small sage leaves
30g hazelnuts, dry-fried and roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Cut the squash in half lengthways, but leave the seeds for now – they’re easier to remove with less flesh attached once cooked. Place on a lined baking tray, cut-side up. Drizzle with the oil.
2. Roast for 50 to 60 minutes or until the flesh is soft when pierced with a sharp knife.
3. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds, then remove the flesh from the squash, leaving a 1cm rim next to the skin. Mash the squash flesh in a bowl with all the rest of the ingredients.
4. Divide the stuffing between the two squash ‘boats’, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the filling is turning golden on top.
5. When ready to serve, heat the oil and gently fry the sage leaves until curling at the edges. Pour the sage leaves and their oil over the cooked squash and scatter over the hazelnuts.

Recipe taken from Sarah Raven’s Good Good Food: Recipes to Help You Look, Feel and Live Well (Bloomsbury, £25).

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