Hasselback Butternut Squash

Tom Hunt

Featuring:

Butternut squash

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 6-8

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

Oil and salt

Watch the video

It’s butternut squash season! But what should you make with one? Why not try this easier-than-it-looks hasselback butternut squash for a centrepiece that looks impressive but only requires a couple of ingredients? Check out the video if you’re more of a visual learner!

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan)/200C/gas 6.

Halve the butternut squash carefully lengthwise (a sharp chef’s knife or a bread knife is perfect for this), and scoop out the seeds with a spoon (keep those seeds to go in the oven, too!).

Put the squash halves face down on a chopping board and use your sharp knife to carefully cut slices about 2/3 of the way down the squash, so that it all stays together as one piece, but the slices (as thin as you can make them) are almost cut down to the bottom of the butternut squash half.

Pop the butternut squash halves face down in a roasting tin, scrunching up a ball of greaseproof paper or tin foil to put under the cavity and help the squash slices to fan out a little to help with the cooking and appearance. Add the scooped out seeds into the tray, and drizzle everything with a little bit of oil and a pinch of salt. Adding some sturdy herbs like sage, rosemary or dried herbs here adds flavour if you like, or scattering a little feta cheese, lemon zest or chilli slices towards the end of cooking could add lots of flavour with little effort, too.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until everything is softened and golden. Serve the squash with the crispy seeds scattered over the top.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Tom Hunt

Tom Hunt is an award-winning chef, food writer and food waste campaigner. His Bristol restaurant Poco attained the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s highest ever score of 96%.

www.tomsfeast.com/