Chicken and pumpkin midweek roast.

Chicken and pumpkin midweek roast

At this time of year everyone is piling pumpkins into their shopping trolleys. The problem is no one intends on eating them, and people, you are missing a real treat.

To be fair those huge orange pumpkins on offer for 3 pounds a pop are not really grown for flavour but now is the time to investigate the other squashes on offer in greengrocers, on the market stalls and in some supermarkets too. If you really cannot find a Crown Prince or a Turks Turban there are always butternut squashes around.

Beautiful autumn squash.

This very simple one tray chicken dish uses half a butternut squash. Roast the rest though as my next post is a bread recipe that will use the second half, in a pumpkin fougasse.

As the nights draw in, a big tray of roasted vegetables topped with a crispy chunk of chicken is just the kind of comforting dish we all crave. I happened to have some tomatoes and a bunch of asparagus in my fridge. Use what you have, peppers, mushrooms, carrots and parsnips all work well.

Ingredients

1 chicken portioned into 8 pieces (learn to do this, it will save you a fortune)

2 large floury potatoes cut into 1cm slices

1 red onion, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 a butternut squash, peeled and cut into rough dice

2 to 4 garlic cloves, bruised

1 bunch of asparagus

2 strings of tomatoes on the vine.

seasoning

olive oil

How to  (serves 4 takes 1 hr 10 minutes cooking time)

• Preheat the oven to 200c
• Take a large baking tray and oil it. Season well with salt and pepper. Scatter over the potato slices. Toss in the seasoned oil until well coated.
• Bake the potato slices for 20 minutes.
• Add the butternut squash chunks to the baking tray, add a little more oil and season. Pop in the garlic cloves and bake for a further 10 minutes.
• Season the chicken pieces with a little salt and pepper. Next lay on the chicken pieces into the baking tray, scatter in the onions and bake for 20 minutes.
• Finally add in the asparagus, the tomatoes and bake for a final 20 minutes.
• Check that the chicken is cooked through. Serve with a glass of wine and a roaring open fire.

 

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