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Butternut steaks with green apple relish
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 2 medium butternut squashes (approx. 450g each)
- avocado oil or other high-heat oil, to cook
- 110g crumbly goats’ cheese
For the spice paste
- 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1tsp brown sugar
- 1tsp smoked paprika
- 1⁄2tsp onion powder
- 1⁄2tsp pul biber or chilli powder
- 1tsp sea salt
For the quinoa
- 140g quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 360ml good-quality vegetable stock
- 1⁄2tsp dried Italian seasoning
- 1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1tbsp champagne vinegar
- 85g baby rocket
For the apple relish
- 1 large green apple, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, mostly seeded, minced
- 1⁄4 red onion, very finely chopped
- 7g coriander, chopped handful mint leaves, chopped
- juice 1 lime
- 1⁄2tsp sea salt
Method
To make the quinoa, put the rinsed quinoa and stock into a pan, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 12 minutes. Once cooked, fluff it with a fork, turn off the heat, partially cover with the lid and set aside to finish steaming off the heat. When it is no longer steaming, stir in the Italian seasoning, oil and vinegar, then add the rocket and toss to combine.
Meanwhile, make the relish. Put the apple in a bowl with the jalapeño, onion, coriander, mint, lime juice, salt and some pepper. Stir to mix and set aside. Preheat the oven to 190C/ 170C F/Gas 5. Line a rimmed baking tray with baking paper and put a cooling rack on top.
To make the spice paste, whisk the oil, sugar, paprika, onion powder, pul biber, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Cut the bulb end off the squash and save for another use. Peel the long cylindrical part of the squash. Stand it upright and carefully cut down, lengthways, into 1.25cm-thick slabs. You should get three or four per squash – it won’t matter that some of them will have rounded ends. Toss them all in the spice paste.
Heat a drizzle of avocado or other oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the squash steaks in a single layer, in batches if necessary, and sear for around 4 minutes on each side until you see some brown marks. Transfer to the rack on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until tender through to the centre.
Layer the quinoa, squash steaks and relish on a serving plate or in individual bowls and sprinkle the goats’ cheese over to serve.
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