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Roast squash fregola with late tomatoes and spice

Squash fregola for web

Roast squash is one of the building blocks of a meal that I find really useful to have in the fridge. I’ll do a couple and keep leftovers to use as the week unfolds: in quick grain bowls, pastas, with noodles and even squashed into sandwiches. A cut small squash will roast in 20 minutes or less, so it can be a quick dinner from scratch, too.

Duration
Difficulty
Serves
4
Squash fregola for web

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut or other squash
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp nigella seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 400g assorted tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 300g fregola pasta
  • 1-2 tbsp harissa paste, to taste
  • A handful of black olives, stoned
  • Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
  • 100g feta (optional)

  1. Prep the squash

    Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Chop the squash. If you are using butternut or other soft-skinned squash there’s no need to peel it. Halve and deseed the squash and cut it into 2cm pieces. Put on to a tray with some salt, pepper and 2 tbsp of the olive oil and toss to coat. Roast for 25 minutes, or until it’s golden brown.


  2. Cook the spices

    Heat the rest of the oil in a large pan, add the nigella and cumin seeds and stir in the pan for a minute or two. Then add the tomatoes to the pan, letting them soften and collapse into a rough sauce over a moderate heat.


  3. Cook the fregola

    Put a large pan of water on to boil and add a little salt. Tip in the fregola and leave to bubble away for 8 minutes. Check its progress regularly, draining it as soon as it is tender.


  4. Season the tomatoes

    Stir the harissa paste and the stoned olives into the tomatoes and season with a little salt (you won’t need much).


  5. Finish off the sauce

    Cook until you have a rich, thick sauce then stir in the drained fregola and pumpkin. Check the seasoning and serve with a drizzle more oil. You could crumble some feta (or even salted ricotta) over, if you like.

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