Roasted squash and onions with tahini, za’atar, and walnuts

There are some recipes that stick with you your whole life. This is one of them. I first made this 10 years ago to try to impress a date, and I remember the recipe more than I remember the guy. It’s in the top 5 of my favourite recipes of all time. It’s my go-to recipe when I want to impress a date, serve a vegetarian main, or make a great side dish through fall and winter. It’s perfect served warm, but the leftovers are great straight from the fridge.

I’ve added a few changes to Ottolenghi’s recipe over the years, so you can try the original here. I peel the squash, add much more lemon, replace the pine nuts with less expensive walnuts, and bloom the za’atar in olive oil. I encourage you to play with the recipe.

Ingredients

Roasted vegetables:

  • 1kg butternut squash (1 large)

  • 700g red onions (2 medium)

  • 45g olive oil (3 tbsp)

  • 5g salt (1 tsp if using Diamond)

  • 4 ice cubes (optional)

Dressing:

  • 60g tahini

  • 30g lemon juice (1-2 lemons)

  • 30g water

  • 1 small clove garlic

  • 1-2 pinches of salt (1/4 tsp if using Diamond)

Toppings:

  • 15g olive oil

  • 45g walnuts, pistachios, almonds, or pine nuts

  • 1 tbsp. za'atar

  • 1 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

  • Black pepper to taste

  • Flakey salt, like Maldon, optional

Method

Roast the squash and onions

  • Preheat oven to 475°F

  • Peel your butternut squash using a vegetable peeler; if you are getting a new harvest squash in September/October and the skin is still thin, you can leave it on (I don’t like it, it can get leathery while roasting)

  • Cut your butternut squash into roughly 2-1/2” long x 3/4” wide wedges.

    • First, lay down your squash on your cutting board so it runs lengthwise from left to right. Cut off the top and bottom, then divide it into 3 or 4 equal lengths roughly 2-1/2” long

    • Use a spoon to remove the seeds where necessary, you can save these to roast like pumpkin seeds

    • Stand each piece up so the flat side is down, and cut into 4 or 6 pieces, depending on how big your squash is. You want finished pieces around 3/4” thick.

  • Cut your onions in half, then into a similar size as the squash, this will be 4, 6, or 8 pieces depending on how big your onions are

  • In a large bowl, toss the onions and squash with 45g olive oil and 5g salt; if you toss this right on the baking sheet you’ll have a harder time cleaning up the baking sheet later. It’s easier to wash the bowl.

  • Transfer to a single layer on a baking sheet

  • Add 4 ice cubes to the baking sheet; the ice cubes will melt instantly in the oven and create steam. The steam will help the squash cook faster, so it will be tender by the time it’s crispy.

  • Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the squash has crispy edges and is cooked through, you can test this by seeing if a paring knife inserts without resistance

  • If the onions begin to char before the squash is ready, remove them from them oven and put the squash back in

  • Allow to cool to room temperature

Toast the nuts

  • In a frying pan, add 15g of olive oil and the nuts

  • Turn the heat on medium and cook until the nuts are deeply toasted. For walnuts and almonds this will take 8-10 minutes. For pistachios or pine nuts this will take 3-5 minutes.

  • Remove the nuts from the heat to stop cooking

Toast the spices

  • In the same pan used for the nuts, add 15g olive oil and heat until shimmering

  • Add the za’atar and heat for 30 seconds until fragrant and immediately remove from heat to a bowl

  • This is an optional step, you can put the spice on dry

Make the dressing

  • In a medium bowl, add the tahini, lemon juice, water, garlic, a pinch of salt, and whisk until combined

  • Adjust the taste and texture as needed, it should have the texture of honey

    • Too loose: add tahini

    • Too thick: add lemon juice or water (use water if it’s already quite bright or tangy, but I generally add more lemon)

Assemble

  • In a serving bowl or platter, arrange the squash and onions

  • Drizzle the tahini dressing on top

  • Sprinkle the nuts, spoon the za’atar, and parsley on top

Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers are great cold.

Notes:

Pine nuts are very expensive. While they are delicious, I don’t think they are worth the $20 extra they add to this recipe.

You can use any robust squash, like acorn or pumpkin, as well. Honey nut squash would be very good.

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Spicy, smokey pumpkin soup with pancetta and garlic bread croutons

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Olive oil & honey cake with pears