Home Alone

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What with my Dad away on a business trip in Germany and my Mum working a late shift it gave me the house to myself one evening this week, not something I get very often so it made a nice change – nice meal, glass of wine, wee bit of music (classical by the way) and a good book (Rachel Allen’s new one Rachel’s Baking Secrets: From Cookies to Casseroles, Fresh from the Oven, oh and Murphy curled up next to me on the sofa equalling absolute bliss. 

Notice the new floor and corner of the new rug – see this post for more details about the chaos of home decorating and a bit of bread baking along the way.

Once I’d flicked through Rachel’s Baking Secrets: From Cookies to Casseroles, Fresh from the Oven (Rachel Allen) and Much Depends on Dinner: A Year in the “Telegraph” Kitchen (Daily Telegraph)  (Carolyn Hart) I just new what I had to cook for dinner. I wanted a vegetarian meal and I had half a butternut squash to eat up, I just love squash; I could eat them everyday and I don’t think I’d ever get bored of them. So I suppose I’m lucky they’re so good for you, full of vitamins, low glycemic index and relatively high in protein for a vegetable.  Couple them with a plentiful supply of the humble spud and I’d be a very happy woman.

Anyway I’m getting off the point aren’t I? So back to dinner.  It involved combining two recipes, a baked squash with the filling mashed with herbs (thyme and sage from my herb garden) and home made creme fraiche before being packed back into the squash and baked until crisp on top and a squash cheese fondu, basically I filled the long part of the squash with the ‘mash’ and filled the ’seed pocket’ with the fondu. In case you’re wondering the fondu is Rachel Allen’s idea and the other The Telegraphs. 

I was rather dubious that half a squash and some bread would be enough to serve as a main course but I was proven wrong, due to the richness of the fondu and the sweetness of the squash anymore and it would become overpowering and sickly. I chose to serve drizzled with a little balsamic which cut through the sweetness a little and leant a depth to the dish.

The bread I served was concocted by the lovely Mara from Mr X Cooks (another food forum I frequent) and gave a great nuttiness and healthy tasting addition to the creamy, rich depth of the squash.  Perfectly matched to the meal.

As for Rachel Allen’s new book, well it’s superb! Full of lovely homely recipes both sweet and savoury, as with all her previous books a great buy.

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Filed under Bread, Sides, Vegetarian