Baked shallots and squash with a crispy rosemary, chilli, orange and olive oil breadcrumb topping

A filling vegan supper of sweet roasted shallots and butternut squash topped with crispy herbs breadcrumbs.

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

You’ll need

• 1kg of butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 5cm/2in chunks
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 12 shallots, peeled
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 1 tbsp of rosemary leaves chopped
• 2 tbsp of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
•  zest of 1 orange
• 120g of fresh white/brown breadcrumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/ gas 6
2. Peel the butternut squash and discard the seeds. Cut the flesh into large bite-sized chunks about 5cm.
3. Place the shallots in an ovenproof dish and toss with 1 tbsp of the oil, season with sea salt and black pepper and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the dish from the oven and add the butternut squash and making sure the vegetables are well coated with the oil and butter mixture and cook for a further 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a saucepan over a moderate heat with the garlic and cook for one minute taking care not to burn the garlic.
6. Add the chilli, rosemary, parsley and the orange zest, stirring all the time, when thoroughly mixed add the breadcrumbs and season. Cook for a further minute then take off the heat and set aside.
7. Remove the shallots and squash from the oven and reduce the heat to 180c and spread the breadcrumb mixture over the top and return to the oven for a further 25-30 minutes or till the breadcrumbs are a deep golden colour.

Top Tip
This dish is also good as a main course served with a green salad and crusty bread. You could also use pumpkin and this would be good at Christmas with turkey

Recipe and Images Courtesy of www.UKShallot.com