Butternut Squash, Tomato and Sage Bake

This is just one of the best veggie dishes. Great with anything, or on it’s own and it can be prepped in advance. I will bring you more of my faves over the next few months - between cakes and Cornish recipes!!!  You need an oven proof serving dish to assemble and bake.

1 medium butternut squash, deseeded etc and the outer skin washed and at least partially removed [if the skin is good and clean, no real need].

Dice the squash into approx ½ cubes - but no bigger. Don’t worry about being exact.

1 large echalion shallot - or 2 medium

3 medium tomatoes or a doz cherry [or mixed types]

about 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped

small pot of double cream

a handful of fresh breadcrumbs

1 oz grated cheddar or mozzarella [I like the latter]

2 oz feta cheese [or goats cheese if you prefer]

1 teaspoon fresh parmesan

Rapeseed or olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Before you start cooking take your pot of double cream [150ml] and place ¾ of the chopped sage into it and heat it in the microwave on med high for a minute or so until hot. Allow the flavours to infuse and cool. [or use a small saucepan].

Heat a large pan with the oil [I love rapeseed] and fry off the squash until the edges have started to soften and colour.  Tip into your dish. Now chop the shallot and quickly fry in the pan. Mix with the squash. Chop the toms and add to the mix. Season well, especially pepper.

Tip the sagey cream over the veg, making sure the sage bits are evenly distributed.  Sprinkle over the grated cheese, parmesan, then crumble the feta, then the remainder of the chopped sage, then sprinkle over some breadcrumbs. More pepper! You can decorate with a few whole leaves too. This will sit quite happily in a fridge now for an hour or two until you bake it. Lots of pics on my Blog!

Pop into a preheated fan oven at 180 C for about three quarters of an hour. Allow to cool a bit before serving. My daughter loves it cold too.

I used a mix of different tomatoes from my greenhouse [red and gold] and my sage bush this year is a variagated variety. Looks a bit different but great taste.

This recipe can be easily doubled or trebled for a party.

I adapted it from a recipe I saw in the Good Food mag some years ago, although it now bears little resemblance to the original.