Roasted butternut squash with sweet spices, lime and green chiles

This dish is about the fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas when there is abundant pumpkins and hard squashes in the market. You can use any variety, including butternut, kabocha, delicata, sugar, or any variety that you like.

The roasted pumpkins are soft and tender and wonderfully spiced with cardamom and allspice, Mediterranean warming spices. The tart yoghurt sauce and the bright and spicy jalapeños bring the dish alive. These bites are addictive. I often serve these as an appetizer, but they work just as well as a side.

This cookbook was the first one in my Ottolenghi collection; I now have all the others. It brought beautiful flavours to my table and opened my mind to great recipes. Most of the recipes are simple, but each dish is fabulous. I have cooked more than half the recipes from this cookbook. I do need to post from here more often.

For more fabulous recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb butternut squash, or any variety pumpkin, including some hard squashes

1 lime

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground allspice

Salt, to taste

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

2 1/2 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon lime juice

Salt, to taste

2/3 cup cilantro, minced + some for garnish

1-2 green chiles, jalapeños or serranos, thinly sliced

Heat the oven to 400 F.

Cut the butternut squash or other pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and cut the pumpkin into 1/2-inch slices or half moons. If the pumpkin's skin is soft, there is no need to peel it.

Toss the pumpkin with the olive oil, cardamom, allspice powder, and salt, making sure the spices evenly coat the slices.

Lay the pumpkins flat in a single layer on a lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes till the pumpkins are roasted and soft. Remove and cool.

While the pumpkins are roasting, mix the yoghurt, tahini, lime juice, and cilantro. Taste and adjust salt and herbs.

To serve, lay the cooked pumpkin slices on a platter. Drizzle the dressing over the pumpkins and add the sliced green chilies on top. Garnish with cilantro and serve.