Roasted Butternut Squash with Red Onions and Garlic with Tahini Sauce
Have you ever been part of a CSA?
It stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it’s a great way to get seasonal and locally grown produce while also supporting your local farmer.
While there are many perks to joining a CSA (I used to run one and as a personal chef, I have had clients who have used them for years), sometimes you can be stuck with the same types of veggies week after week- especially come early March.
By this point, if you live in the Northeast of the US, you have eaten your fair share of root vegetables. The transitional period from late winter to early spring is tough not just on suede boots (ugh; so much slush. Thank GOD it has been a mild winter this year). It's a veritable wasteland of root vegetables that you grew tired of by the end of February.
However, we've still got weeks before tender lettuces and asparagus make their first CSA and farmer’s market appearances, so what's a bored and uninspired home cook to do?
This recipe will liven and lighten up your routine dishes.
This is inspired from one of my favorite cookbooks called Jerusalem by Ottolenghi
Roasted Butternut Squash, Red Onions, and Garlic
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
INGREDIENTS
About ½ cup olive oil, plus extra for pans
3 medium sized red onions, peeled and cut into 4 wedges
Coarse salt and black pepper
4 pounds butternut squash cut into ½-inch wedges, peeled or unpeeled
3 cloves garlic, tops cut off (cut a 1/4-inch from the top of the cloves so that you can see inside the individual cloves of garlic.)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped thyme, plus extra for garnish
For Tahini Sauce
¼ cup tahini paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves of the roasted garlic
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly coat two large baking sheets with olive oil.
Peel onions, leaving root ends intact. Cut each onion in half from stem to root. Cut each half into 4 wedges, leaving the root intact so that each wedge holds together. Spread on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.
Put the squash in a large mixing bowl. Add ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and about ¼ teaspoon pepper; toss to coat. Spread on a baking sheet, peel side down (if intact).
Garlic can go on the same baking sheet as the butternut squash. Prepare three squares of parchment paper or foil large enough to wrap each head of garlic. For each head of garlic, place down a sheet of parchment or foil onto a work bench. Make a small bed of thyme by shaping it into a small ring. Then place a head of garlic, cut-side-up, on top. Drizzle with olive oil and season with some salt and fresh ground black pepper. Pull the sides of the parchment paper or foil up and around the garlic so that you make a little parcel. If using parchment, secure with kitchen twine.
Place both pans in oven and roast for 40 to 50 minutes, until the vegetables have taken on some color and are cooked through. Keep an eye on the onions, as they may cook faster than the squash and need to be removed earlier. Check on the garlic every so often to see how it is progressing.
To make tahini sauce, place tahini in a mini food processor or blender. Add lemon juice, ¼ cup water, 2 small cloves of the roasted garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt. Blend until sauce is the consistency of honey, adding more water or a tablespoon of olive oil if necessary.
When the vegetables are cooked, set aside until ready to serve.
To serve, combine vegetables on a large serving platter. Remove the cloves of garlic from the bulbs and spread them out across the butternut squash and onions. If using tahini sauce, drizzle on top. Sprinkle with extra chopped thyme.