Roasted Gem Squash with Mushrooms and Cream
Shirley Conran very effectively sold the idea that ‘life’s too short to stuff a mushroom’ – but in the struggle against the relentless pressure on women to be ‘perfect’, why did the poor vegetable get it? Now, if she’d written life was too short to clean windows or dust furniture … I’d have agreed.
I may be hurtling towards fifty but I’ve yet to lose my little girl love of individual portions and I particularly like it when nature does the portioning. Maybe it’s just I’ve never learnt how to share properly? Worrying thought.
Little gem squashes seem to be a bit overlooked in the UK. At the supermarket you’ll find them, sometimes, alongside the more usual butternut squashes. They are about the size of a large orange and have a sweeter flesh than a butternut, an edible skin and a perfectly formed stuff-able cavity when the seeds are removed.
This is one of my Liddy’s favourite things to eat. I normally use chestnut mushrooms, but since I knew these were going to have their picture taken I bought some fancy ones …
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the scrubbed gem squash for about 4 minutes. If you’ve an enormous one, maybe a minute longer.
Once they’ve had their time, scoop them out of the water with a perforated spoon and set them to cool naturally.
Once they have cooled, cut the top quarter off to make a ‘lid’. Keep the tops …
A teaspoon deals with the seeds.
Since the squash are partly cooked this is so easy. None of that usual scraping you associate with the pumpkin family. Throw the seeds away.
Strip the thyme leaves from their stalks. Rosemary, chopped very fine, is a completely different flavour but a nice substitute if you don’t have any fresh thyme.
Mix together 100ml of olive oil (or rapeseed oil – England doesn’t have the climate for growing olives but does produce fantastic ‘nutty’ rapeseed oil …), garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves.
Place the gem squash on a baking tray and divide the oil evenly between them.
Replace the ‘lid’ and roast until soft.
Meanwhile, pour the double cream into a saucepan.
Add the garlic, salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Over a very low heat infuse and slightly thicken the cream.
In a large frying pan, gently warm a drizzle of oil and the final garlic clove, finely ‘microplaned’. Add the mushrooms (about 100g per serving), then toss over a high heat until golden. Add the chopped parsley.
Top up the oil with the warm cream and divide the remaining cream between the shallow soup plates. Place the gem squash in the centre.
Top with the mushrooms and serve with the lid ‘artistically’ place to one side.
Eat.
Roasted Gem Squash with Mushrooms and Cream – Serves 6
- 6 gem squash
- 100ml olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, grated on a fine microplane grater or crushed to a puree with salt
- salt and pepper
- 300ml double cream
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 600g mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Wash the gem squash and add them to the boiling water. Cook for about 4 minutes, with some slight flexibility depending on size of your squash.
Scoop out with a perforated spoon and place on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool at room temperature.
When cool, slice off the top quarter and put on one side. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds and throw them away. Transfer the gem squash to a baking sheet.
In a jug mix the olive oil with 1 clove of grated garlic (or a third of the puree), salt, freshly ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves. Divide this mixture between the 6 Gem squash. Replace the lids and roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the flesh is beautifully soft. (Aga: Cook bottom set of runners in the Roasting Oven for about 20 minutes, turning once.)
Meanwhile, place the double cream in a saucepan. Add 1 cloves of grated garlic and 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves, picked off the stalks. On a very low heat, allow to simmer. The cream will thicken very slightly and infuse with the flavours of the thyme and garlic. Season to taste.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan over a very low heat, add the final clove of grated garlic and, once the oil has taken on some of the flavour of the garlic but not coloured, add the mushrooms. Turn up the heat and toss until the mushrooms are golden and coated in the garlicky oil. Season. Then add the chopped parsley.
Fill the remaining space in the cavities with cream and divide what’s left between six shallow soup plates. Place the gem squash in the centre of a pool of cream and top the squash with the garlicky mushrooms. Some will fall to the side. Add the squash ‘lid’.
It’s particularly lovely served with warm walnut or hazelnut bread.
Eat.