Slow Food Saddleback Recipes

Butternut Squash & Tahini Spread

From Jerusalem  p. 69  Yotam Ottolenghi

Ingredients

Serves 6 - 8
1.2kg butternut, peeled and cut into chunks (970g once peeled)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
70g light tahini paste
120g Greek yoghurt
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp mixed black and white sesame seeds (or just white, if you don't have black)
1½ tsp date syrup
2 tbsp chopped coriander (optional)
salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Spread the squash out in a medium roasting tin. Pour over the olive oil and sprinkle on the cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of salt. Mix together well, cover the tray with foil and roast in the oven for 70 minutes, stirring once during the cooking. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Transfer the squash to a food processor, along with the tahini, yoghurt and garlic. Roughly pulse so that everything is combined into a coarse paste, without the spread becoming smooth; you can also do this by hand using a fork or potato masher.

Spread the butternut in a wavy pattern over a flat plate and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, drizzle over the syrup and finish with the chopped coriander, if using.

Date syrup can be substituted with golden syrup, maple syrup or even treacle.