Crusted harlequin squash wedges

A while ago I purchased Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetarian cook book Plenty and it's absolutely amazing. It's full of inspiration and tasty recipes.

This recipe is from that book but has naturally been slightly altered (original: Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream, Plenty p. 72-73). I used a squash instead of a pumpkin and served them with potato mash seasoned with smoky cheese and some lightly fried lemony zucchini slices. In any case this was a delightful and quick dish to make.

Harlequin squash was a new ingredient to me but I couldn't help purchasing it when I saw its cuteness on the supermarket shelf. It's quite mild yet sweet and tender.

For the squash wedges:

1 harlequin squash

25g grated vegetarian parmesan

15g bread crumbs

2 garlic cloves

4 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp thyme

Zest of one lemon

Olive oil

Pepper

For the side dish:

4-6 small zucchinis

Lemon juice

Chili flakes

Salt

For the potato mash:

500g new potatoes

Red Leicester cheese grated

Smoky Cheddar grated

Butter

Salt

Prepare the squash and its crust first. There's no need to peel the squash, just washing is enough. Slice the squash along its natural wedges. Be careful when cutting as the squash can be tough to cut.

Then make the crust mix by mixing bread crumbs, grated veggie parmesan, chopped garlic, parsley and thyme and grated lemon zest.

Place the squash wedges in an oven dish and brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle the crust mix and little pepper on them. Bake the wedges at 190C for about 30 minutes until the squash is tender and the crust is crispy.

While these bake you can boil the new potatoes for the mash. New potatoes tend to be very small, and the smaller the tastier, so they boil quicker than regular potatoes. When the potatoes are boiled soft, squeeze them through a potato ricer and season with salt, butter and grated smoky Cheddar and Red Leicester cheese. Mix it until smooth.

When the wedges are in the oven and the potatoes are boiling there's time to make the zucchini slices. Slice the small zucchinis thinly lengthwise and fry them lightly in olive oil. Add lemon juice, chili flakes and salt.

Serve all the components together and you'll have a nice and still fairly light meal.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog