Roast squash with cauliflower purée, crispy chickpeas and gremolata
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
Cauliflower purée makes a very welcoming bed for the roast squash chunks here. The purée is a great lesson in how texture can transform the taste of an ingredient – the cauliflower is cooked to the height of its flavour and blended into a creamy and savoury umami taste sensation.
Ingredients
For the squash
For the cauliflower purée
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp butter, cold
- 3 banana shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 400g tin butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 50–100ml/2–3½fl oz double cream, to taste
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp sweet white miso
- ½ lemon, juice only
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the crispy chickpeas
For the gremolata
- 5g fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- handful chives, finely chopped
- 15g/½oz fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
- 2 lemons, zest of 2 lemons and juice of ½ lemon
- 30g/1oz flaked almonds, toasted
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp caster sugar
Method
To make the squash, preheat the oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas 9.
Put the squash in a bowl and generously coat in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and place on a baking tray.
Roast for 20–30 minutes, or until deeply browned on the outside and tender enough that a knife can be inserted into each chunk without resistance.
Meanwhile, to make the cauliflower purée, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic and cauliflower and cook for 15–25 minutes, stirring often, until the cauliflower is tender. Try to avoid browning the cauliflower – it should be a cream-coloured sauce with a savoury flavour rather than a sweet brown purée.
Add the butter beans and cream. Cook for 5 minutes.
Once the squash is cooked, reduce the oven temperature to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Coat the chickpeas with the neutral oil on a baking tray. Roast for about 20 minutes, shaking them halfway through, or until golden brown. Season with the salt as soon as the tray is removed from the oven.
When the cauliflower mixture is soft enough to mash with the back of a spoon, transfer to a blender or food processor. Add the vinegar, miso, remaining butter and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Blend the cauliflower mixture, adding a splash of water if it's too thick, for 3–5 minutes. This seems like a long time, but the texture as a result is unreal.
To make the gremolata, combine the herbs, lemon zest and juice, almonds, cumin, olive oil and sugar in a bowl. Season with salt.
To serve, warm the cauliflower purée in a small saucepan over a low heat then spread a generous amount over the entire surface of four plates. Top with the squash and spoon the gremolata and chickpeas over the top.
Recipe tips
Large squash chunks produce a nice tender middle and crispy exterior without getting mushy.
