Roasted Butternut with Burnt Aubergine Dressing

I’ve been making good on my promise to cook from the Favourite Recipes booklets from Books for Cooks. After making the Egyptian Feta Salad I moved on to this recipe for Roasted Butternut with Burnt Aubergine Dressing. The intention while cooking from the booklets was not to do a lot of blog posts but this recipe is just too good not to share.

The sweetness from the butternut, the smokiness from the burnt aubergine and tartness from pomegranate molasses combined with the crunch from the seeds is just delicious. It is perfect served as a veggie meal on its own with some giant couscous or with easter around the corner, a great veggie side dish with roast lamb. If your easter plans are a bit more informal and lunch will be a barbecue the Roasted Butternut with Burnt Aubergine Dressing will be as great an accompaniment.

The recipe comes from Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi’s Ottolenghi : The Cookbook. And as far as Ottolenghi recipes go, this one is relatively uncomplicated with minimal ingredients. The key to the dressing is to properly char the aubergine – you want all that smoky flavour. The dressing will make a delicious dip or a delicious topping for flatbreads or bruschetta, topped with crumbled feta and chopped herbs.

I hope you enjoy making this recipe for Roasted Butternut with Burnt Aubergine Dressing. If you’ve made it, share it with me by tagging @heinstirred on Instagram with the hashtag #heinstirred. It is always a treat to see the recipes made and enjoy. The serving spoon in the image is from my range of handmade wooden tableware. You can view the full range by clicking here.

Roasted Butternut with Burnt Aubergine Dressing

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Ingredients

  

• 1 large butternut or pumpkin peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded
• and cut into 6-8 wedges
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• salt black pepper
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• For the dressing
• 1 large aubergine
• 150 ml full cream yoghurt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 garlic clove crushed

Instructions

 

• Heat the oven to 200 C
• Arrange the butternut wedges in a single layer in a roasting tin
• Brush generously with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast until tender and patched with brown, about 40 minutes
• Let cool slightly before serving
• Make the dressing while the squash is roasting
• Pierce the aubergine in a few places with the point of a knife
• Roast, turning occasionally with tongs, directly over a flame on a gas hob or a ridge grill pan or hot coals in a barbecue or under an overhead grill until the skin is thoroughly (and we mean thoroughly) black and blistered the flesh feels soft
• It will take about 15 minutes on the hob or barbecue but longer under a grill
• Set aside and when cool enough to handle, cut open and scoop out the soft flesh, trying to leave as much
• of the charred skin behind as possible
• Put the flesh into a colander and leave for 10 minutes to drain out as much moisture as possible, then roughly chop
• Put into a bowl, add the yoghurt, oil, molasses, lemon, parsley and garlic, mix to combine and add salt and pepper to taste
• Toast the seeds in a pan until nutty and lightly browned
• Arrange the roasted squash wedges on a platter, scatter the toasted seeds and drizzle with a little extra olive oil, and serve with the smoky aubergine dressing