I’m having a sample making day (got a big meeting tomorrow) but I thought I’d better stop for lunch, even though I was the opposite of hungry and well, I had half a bag of rocket that needed using up* (I can not wait to get, what has to be my favourite salad leaf, growing up at the allotment, so I don’t have to worry so much about bags of the stuff going off in my fridge). One of my current favourite salads using rocket has to be this one (scroll down a bit, it uses spinach (which also tastes great) but I often replace it with rocket as that’s just what I happen to have). The recipe, a Levi Roots one, involves roasted squash and Roots just completely opened my eyes as to how nice it is to have in salads and how well it takes up the flavour of the salad dressing. So when I saw another butternut squash salad recipe in Nigella’s Kitchen, well I had to try it at some point.
And the result was lovely, like I said, I wasn’t hungry, even at the point of dishing up I thought I’d probably just pick at it, but one taste of the sweetness of the squash against the more piquant rocket and the moreishness of the pinenuts, not forgetting the ginger and tumeric, yum, so before I knew it I was trying to scoop up the last of the pinenuts from my now empty bowl, Nigella wins again (although actually I’m not sure which of the two recipes, Nigella versus Levi Roots is my actual favourite, they’re both good).
I have to admit I did make a little change by not including the sultanas (blah) in Nigella’s recipe and consequently this slightly alters how you make the dressing, but as long as you’re used to not slavishly following recipes, you can muddle it together as you go along.
Oh and I should also admit, when I’m making butternut squash salads I’m always making them for just me, so there is no point in going and struggling with a real actual fresh butternut (one of these days I’m going to cut a finger off struggling with those things) and instead I use one of my freezer saviours, ready peeled and cut out up frozen squash, I’d be lost without it and obviously I only need to use how ever much I need.
* I made the Lemon and Rocket couscous from Nigella’s Kitchen last night, much to the disgust of everyone else in the family (although not really Girl Lacer who is growing to, if not like, accept, mummy’s favourite salad leaf). The couscous was ok, but a bit bland and could have done with some oil in it, like in some of my favourite Jamie Oliver couscous recipes.
PS Talking of Jamie Oliver I did like his first 30 minute meal programme yesterday (although at 5.30pm, no way am I going to get to watch it live), it felt like he was going back to his warehouse roots a bit, even the opening sequence was a little jarringly 90-ish, seemingly in the style of the intro to a schools’ ed programme. Every dish looked delicious and Jamie was full of his usual kitchen tips that make you think “Ahhh! Why didn’t I think of doing that before?”. I still don’t think I could do that meal in 30 minutes though, not in my kitchen.
