I’m truly enjoying these holidays – sweet, lazy days off. As you probably already know if you follow my blog or know me personally, I’m a big big fan of making good, healthy yet simple food, gather my family and friends around the table and just be together.
So many people ask me if I’m a strict vegetarian. No! Absolutely not. In my household we eat all kinds of food, som of my kids are vegetarians, some friends are too, and I’ve always enjoyed making a lot of vegetarian food and veggie meals. I’ve been a vegetarian in my younger days, but decided to be more like a “flexitarian ” to make life a bit easier on some occasions. Nevertheless I make mostly veggie meals at home:
1. It’s healthy and tasty.
2. The world is brimming with wonderful, good vegetarian recipes to try.
3. Vegetarian food is, as far as I can see, the most sustainable alternative
4. Vegetarian food is affordable and you can get so so many delicious vegetables and live like a king on really luxurious veggie dishes for the 1/3 of the price compared to if you buy meat.
The good thing about making veggie meals when you gather a lot of people around your table is that most people can eat and will enjoy the dishes. The veggie dishes can often easily be changed up to suit your liking and what you have on hand. Veggie dishes can be served together, as side dishes or main dishes or as a part of a buffet. You choose.
Today I want to share one of my all time favourite dishes. Baked vegetables. I use it a lot (!) like I mean totally a lot! It’s so versatile and easy to make. This time I’ve changed it up a little bit and made it a little bit festive.
I’ve baked my vegetables inside 1/2 a butternut squash and added my red pesto covered baked potato sticks as a bed around the baked butternut squash.
Butternut squash roast
4-6 persons
1 butternut squash cut in half. Get rid of the seeds.
1 red beetroot – finely cut
1/2 celery root – finely cut
1/2 sweet potato – finely cut
1 onion – finely cut
8-12 potatoes cut in 4 (boat shape)
1 tbsp red pesto
1 tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Provençal herbs
1/4 teaspoon pepper
100 ml shredded cheese
A handful chopped nuts
•preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
•rinse and take away all the seeds inside the butternut squash.
• cut out as much as the butternut squash as you can while skin is still whole. Cut the butternut squash “meat” in tiny pieces and mix with all the other vegetables cut in tiny pieces.
•add herbs, salt and pepper to the vegetables.
•in a oven tray add a little bit of olive oil.
•put the butternut squash in the middle of the tray and fill it with the finely cut vegetable mix.
•bake in oven for 10 minutes while cutting potatoes.
• add the potato boats to a bowl and add pesto. Mix well.
• add the pesto covered potato boats to the baking tray around the butternut squash and bake for another 20 minutes until potatoes are crisp and tender.
•if you like, add shredded cheese on top of the butternut squash and put back in oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.
• add finely chopped nuts on top along with a fine sprinkle of herbs.
•serve warm
Enjoy!
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