I have recently fallen in love with butternut squash all over again! This wonderful vegetable grows on a vine and is available year round thanks to its popularity. It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to pumpkin, but a texture which is a little more substantial meaning you can use it for all sorts of recipes in place of sweet potato, white potatoes or wheat based ingredients like pasta.
Butternut squash is versatile, low fat, and provides only 10% carbohydrates compared to white potatoes at 17%. In these 2 recipes, I use ready prepared ‘waffles’ and noodles (some people call these boodles) which are readily available to buy from Asda and Sainsburys (waffles) and Aldi (noodles). They are great to use on a low carb diet and are free food with Slimming World. Here is the packet from the Asda product:
My first idea is using Butternut squash ‘waffles’ or ‘squaffles’ as they are sometimes called.
Stacked Butternut Squash Waffles with Mushrooms, Spinach and a Poached Egg
Ingredients
1 packet of precut Butternut Squash Waffles (available from Asda and Sainsburys)
Frylight spray oil
100g mushrooms
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce
A handful of fresh spinach leaves or tenderstem broccoli
1 egg per person, (soft boiled for exactly 5 minutes, then plunged into cold water)
Fresh chives to garnish
Directions
Spray a baking tray lined with baking parchment with Frylight and place your waffles in a single layer on the tray. Spray again with a litlte oil and bake in a hot oven for approoximately 15 minutes, until the edges of the waffles begin to brown and caramalise.
Whilst the waffles are cooking, prepare your mushrooms by wiping clean with kitchen roll and slicing thickly. Place the mushrooms in a small saucepan with a lid, with the Worcestershire Sauce. Turn on the heat and cook briefly until the mushrooms begin to soften.
Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the spinach or pre-cooked broccoli on top and return the lid to the pan. Cook for just long enough for the greens to wilt. Set aside, keeping the mushrooms and spinach in the pan to retain their heat.
Prepare your soft poached egg by boiling the number of eggs required by the number of people you are serving for exactly 5 minutes (this time is for large eggs straight from the fridge, for smaller eggs reduce the time by 30 seconds – 1 minute). As soon as the time is up, plunge the eggs into cold water to stop further cooking. When you are ready to serve, peel the shell from the eggs and you will have perfect eggs with an oozie, runny middle.
Once the waffles are cooked, remove from the baking tray and keep warm until you are ready to begin layering.
Taking warm plates, build layers of waffles, mushrooms and greens, finishing with the egg on the top. Garnish your stack with the fresh chives or alternatively, sprinkle with a little Dukka for crunch and taste.
And now for the second recipe, a delicious and fun twist on baked eggs, which can be served for breakfast, lunch or supper. Vary the flavours, herbs and seasonings to taste, making them spicy or more herby if you wish, depending on when you’re eating them. I make a batch of my tomato ‘pizza’ sauce and freeze it, as I use this in quite a few recipes. Below you will see the recipie for this too. Have fun squashers!
Butternut Noodle Baked Egg Nests
Makes 2 large nests
Ingredients
For the Tomato ‘Pizza’ Sauce:
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves of garllic, minced
A few sprays of oil
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1Tbs tomato puree
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp of sugar (or sweetener for Slimming World users)
For the Nests:
1 packet of fresh butternut noodles
spray oil
2 large eggs
fresh basil leaves
smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Firstly make the tomato pizza sauce. Fry the onion and garlic in a little spray oil unitl soft but not overly brown.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs and sugar/sweetner and simmer for 10 minutes until thick and set aside to cool. (at this point the sauce can be frozen in portions and then used as you wish for various receipes)
Now gently soften your packet of squash nooodles by placing in a microwaveable dish, cover and cook on high power for 2 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper, spray lightly with oil and arrange cooked noodles into ‘nests’.
Line the inside of the holes with approximately 1 tablespoon of your sauce and 3 or 4 torn basill leaves. Carefully crack an egg into each hole and sprinkle each egg with a little smoked paprika.
Bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes.
Serve with rocket leaves
