Butternut ‘parmigiana’ with baked garlic rice
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
Roasted butternut squash with tomato, cheese and za’atar, served with baked garlic rice and a crisp butterhead lettuce salad.
Ingredients
For the butternut ‘parmigiana’
- 1 large butternut squash, about 1.3kg/3lb, unpeeled, halved lengthways and deseeded
- 105ml/3½fl oz olive oil
- 4–5 plum tomatoes, grated, skins discarded
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- ⅛ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp caster sugar
- 25g/1oz panko breadcrumbs
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tsp za’atar
- 4 oregano sprigs
- 125g/4½oz taleggio, brie or mozzarella, thinly sliced
For the baked garlic rice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 large garlic heads, top 1cm/½in removed
- 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
- 4 bay leaves
- 10 whole cloves
- 6 cardamom pods, bashed open
- 1 lemon, zest thinly pared into 4 strips
- 400g/14oz basmati rice, rinsed and drained
- 800ml boiling chicken or vegetable stock, or water
For the butterhead lettuce salad
- 20g/1oz pine nuts
- 50ml/2fl oz cold-pressed rapeseed oil or olive oil
- 40ml white grapefruit juice or lemon juice
- ½ small shallot, finely chopped, about 15g/½oz
- ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp runny honey or maple syrup
- 1 butterhead or British round lettuce (about 200g/7oz), leaves separated and washed
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- a few oregano leaves, to garnish
Method
To make the butternut ‘parmigiana’, preheat the oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas 9
Cut each squash half into three long wedges and put them in a large high-sided roasting tin. Rub with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with ½ teaspoon salt and plenty of black pepper.
Roast for about 35 minutes, until browned and cooked through.
Meanwhile, mix the tomatoes, tomato purée, allspice, cumin, cinnamon, sugar, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 tablespoons water and ½ teaspoon salt in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, garlic, ½ teaspoon za’atar and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
Remove the squash from the oven. Pour the tomato sauce around the squash and tuck in the oregano sprigs.
Lay the cheese evenly over the squash and sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.
Return to the oven for 10–15 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Sprinkle with the remaining za’atar and oregano leaves.
To make the baked garlic rice, preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7
Drizzle the olive oil over the cut sides of the garlic heads and season each with ⅛ teaspoon salt. Put them cut-side down in a large ovenproof dish, about 30cm/12in wide, and roast for 15 minutes. Transfer the garlic to a plate.
Increase the oven temperature to 230C Fan.
Add the butter, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, lemon zest, rice and boiling stock or water to the dish. Add ½ teaspoon salt and plenty of black pepper and stir well.
Put the garlic heads back into the rice, cut-side up. Cover the surface of the rice with baking paper, then cover tightly with a lid or kitchen foil.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to steam, covered, for 10 minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skins and fold them through the rice.
To make the butterhead lettuce salad, toast the pine nuts in a small frying pan over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until golden. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Whisk the oil, grapefruit or lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard and honey or maple syrup with ½ teaspoon salt and a little black pepper.
Finely chop the warm pine nuts and whisk them into the dressing.
Toss the lettuce with about half the dressing. Transfer the remaining dressing to a clean jar and refrigerate.
