Henrietta Balcon says we need colour and taste in our food to cheer us up this month – and this vegetarian recipe for roasted squash with rice, sage and feta will hit the spot.

January, what can I say! Short, cold, frosty days, long cold nights and a never ending month of darkness, chill and frost. I always feel January can be a very depressing month after all the fun of Christmas and the New Year. So our food has to be there to cheer us up.  After the excesses of Christmas, January is a good month to try colourful vegetarian winter food. Not only is it delicious but can also make you feel so much better. But it needs to be tasty and warming too. We have a family favourite as it is slow roasted for the maximum flavour and your friends and family will love it as a main or lunch or dinner. You could use any cheese but I’ve chosen to use feta cheese but you could use any left overs. I think it works particularly well with goats cheese as well.

Ingredients

  • 1 large butternut squash cut in half and seeds taken out
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 red onion finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
  • 100g cooked basmati rice
  • 500ml vegetable stock
  • 1 Pack Feta cheese
  • Fresh Sage Leaves chopped (a handful) – I hope you’ve put a plant under cover for the winter
  • 25g sun-dried tomatoes in oil drained and chopped.

Method

  • Oven to 190C/fan 170C gas 5 Aga top right oven
  • Cut your squash longways in half and place in a baking tray. Try and scoop out as many seeds and stringy bits in the middle of the squash as possible, from the centre cavity. Now brush with olive oil and add about 2cm of water to the bottom of the pan and place in the oven for 40 mins.
  • Roast until it is almost tender when tested with a knife. Scoop out some flesh from the middle and roughly chop it. Keep checking it and add another 10 minutes to the roasting time if the squash is not quite cooked. The bottom as it is thinner, will cook faster than the top.
  • Heat the remaining oil in a pan then gently cook the onion and the garlic until they are both translucent and tender.
  • Stir in the uncooked rice fry together with the onions and garlic for 5 mins and then add the vegetable stock. (You can use precooked rice at this point but just don’t add so much stock, only enough to heat it through thoroughly).
  • Finally cook the rice until all the stock has been fully absorbed and the rice is cooked about 10 to12 mins.
  • Once the rice is cooked stir in the chopped squash flesh, the sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and half the sage leaves.
  • Season to taste.
  • Now stuff the squash with the filling, finish off with the rest off the sage and gently cover in foil.
  • Return to the oven at a lower temperature of 160c/Fan140c gas bottom right Aga. Cook for a further 30 minutes.
  • Make sure the cheese is melted and it is thoroughly heated through. If not turn the heat up for another 10 mins.
  • Stand for 5 mins before serving.
  • Serve with a green salad or a winter salad of raw cabbage carrots and onions – or whatever you fancy.You might even have some Brussels sprouts left over and they can go in shredded but uncooked.


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