Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Onion with Tahini & Za’atar

From Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ebury Press, 2012.

Being in the mood for Middle Eastern food I turned to Yotam Ottolenghi as a starting point. Inspired I ended up making a little feast from a variety of sources: this roast, a yoghurt sauce, a pilaki and some filo pastries.

The roast was a simple one to make and very tasty. I turned the oven on to heat up to 220ºC. While it was heating I cut up some butternut pumpkin and a red onion into nicely sized pieces. They went into a bowl and were mixed with some olive oil, salt and black pepper. When the oven was ready they went in for about ¾ hour.

While the vegetables were roasting I made a tahini sauce. I used a little over a tablespoon tahini, some lemon juice and a little water. They were beaten together until a pouring mixture was gained. A little tasting was done and some adjustments made until it just seemed right. 

A handful of pine nuts were roasted in some olive oil in a pan and taken off the heat to wait for the vegetables to be ready.

When the pumpkin was ready it was left to cool a little and the tahini sauce was dribbled over. The pine nuts went on as well as the oil they were cooked in. Za’atar was sprinkled over and some chopped parsley.

This was such a flavoursome way to have roast pumpkin. The tang of the tahini went so well with the vegetables. The red onion had sweetened. The pine nuts were full of crunch. I’ll be making this one again.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔