Roasted butternut squash or pumpkin is an excellent side dish for roast chicken, lamb or chops, but can equally be enjoyed served at room temperature as part of a warm Autumn salad with some couscous. Roasting this orange coloured vegetable/fruit intensifies and caramelizes their natural sweet flavor… which I favour over steaming! Although I steam butternut squash when making a purée for Pumpkin Ice Cream, which is quite delicious!

Over at  Jungle Frog Cooking Simone is hosting an Autumn Orange/Pumpkin theme for this months photography and styling challenge and as I have just come back from a Photography and Styling Workshop (more on the workshop later),  a good time to put some learning into practice and hopefully create an Autumn feel to the images while living on a sunny desert Island!

Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash with Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

• 1kg butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
•  4 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, lightly squashed leaving the skin on
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pumpkin spice mix
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• a few twists of freshly ground black pepper
• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

How to make: Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Place the squash into  a large shallow roasting tin, add the olive oil, garlic, ground spice mix, sea salt , black pepper and bay leaf. Gently toss all the ingredients together with your hands.

Roast the squash in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the squash is tender and beginning to caramelize,  giving a stir halfway through.

While the squash is roasting, toast the pumpkin seeds on a dry pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes and set aside.

When the squash is ready, remove from the oven and place into a warmed serving dish and sprinkle over the toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve hot as a side dish or at room temperature as part of a salad. Serves 4.

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