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Mother’s Day Roasted Squash

This delicious and seasonal roasted squash recipe is perfect for Mother’s Day. It is a wonderful recipe to get the children involved in. Packed full of flavour, the roasted squash is filled with quinoa, leeks and mushrooms and served with vibrant red cabbage, carrots and sprouts.
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 55 minutes
Servings: 4 people

Equipment

  • You will need cooking string to tie the squash

Ingredients

For the squash

  • 1 medium butternut squash, sliced in half lengthwise and seeds removed
  • 1 small leek, finely chopped
  • 4 medium chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
  • ½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 medium stalk of celery, thinly sliced
  • 1 ¼ cups organic vegetable stock
  • 2 cups kale, tough stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tsp fresh rosemary

For the roasted vegetables

  • 2 medium carrots, scrubbed
  • 8 large Brussel sprouts, tough bases trimmed and outer leaves removed, sprouts sliced in half
  • ¼ medium red cabbage, sliced into ½ inch thick wedges
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C /180°C for a fan assisted oven.
  • Arrange the squash halves on the oven tray and drizzle over 1 tbsp of the melted coconut oil. Transfer to the oven to bake for 40 minutes until fork tender.
  • Remove the squash from the oven, and once cool enough to handle, carefully scoop out the flesh from the centre, leaving a half-inch border all around and taking care not to pierce through the skin. Roughly chop the squash flesh and set aside. Keep the roasting tin to one side and the oven on.
  • Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a large saucepan over a low/medium heat. Add the celery, garlic, leek and rosemary and sweat for a few minutes until tender and fragrant.
  • Add the diced mushrooms and squash flesh. Stir well and cook for 3-4 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. You can add a splash of water if the pan looks too dry.
  • Add the vegetable stock and the rinsed quinoa and bring up to a gentle boil.
  • Reduce to simmer and cook for 12 minutes or so until the quinoa is fluffy and almost all the liquid has been absorbed.
  • Once the quinoa is fluffy and there is only a little liquid left, add the kale leaves. Stir to combine and cook for a further 3 minutes to soften the kale and allow the liquid to be completely absorbed.
  • Whilst the quinoa is cooking arrange the carrot batons across the roasting tray and add the coconut oil. Transfer to the oven for 10 minutes to start roasting.
  • Cut three lengths of the cooking string, long enough to tie around the squash.
  • Remove the tray from the oven and make a space on the centre of the tray for the squash. Lay the three pieces of string across the centre of the tray, each about an inch and a half apart and lay one squash half on top.
  • Divide the stuffing evenly between the two squash halves then carefully lift the second squash half and flip it onto the half on the tray so that the squash is sandwiching the stuffing. Tie the string up around the squash tightly.
  • Arrange the sprouts and cabbage wedges around the squash and carrots. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to the oven for 25 minutes or until the squash and other vegetables are tender throughout, spooning the pan juices over the vegetables halfway through cooking.
  • Slice the squash crossways into thick discs and cut away the string to serve.

Notes

Credits: Recipe and photography by Emma Carter, for the Natural Chef Diploma Courses at CNM, the College of Naturopathic Medicine.