Chicken and butternut squash with sage and walnuts

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Cooked, with herbs

Ready for the oven

Another delicious way to use your glut of squashes with this easy and tasty pan-baked recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken pieces, thighs,legs / drumsticks - leave the skin on - if you have the time, tenderise using the tip below.
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 onions, each roughly cut into about 6 segments
• 3 cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed under the blade of a large knife
• ½ teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 butternut squash peeled and cut into wedges - (About 600 g of squash flesh if using other squashes)
• A large bunch of sage leaves, stems removed
• 100g walnuts, crushed with the palm of your hand
• 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mise en place

• Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F - gas 6)

Method

1. Rub the base of a roasting tin with a little olive oil
2. Add the squash, onions, garlic,chili flakes and chicken and season with salt and pepper
3. Drizzle over with the remaining olive oil and toss well so everything is coated
4. Roast for 25 minutes
5. Drain out any excess liquid, otherwise it is likely to stew rather than roast.
6. Add the sage and walnuts ad the sherry vinegar, stir with a wooden spatula to de-glaze the pan if required. (I added some huge sprigs of sage and cutting celery. I left them whole as they are easier to remove that way.)
7. Mix well and roast for a further 30 minutes

Serving suggestions

This is a complete meal and does not really need anything else. If you wanted to stretch it out then some nice crusty bread would be nice.

Variations

I found some nice baby leeks in the garden just before making this dish, so added them instead of some of the onions. Use Jamie Oliver's tip when roasting leeks, par-boil them for 4 minutes, otherwise they are apt to dry out when being roasted.

Vary the recipe adding any vegetable you have knocking about. Cut them to size to match the cooking times: smaller for items that may tale longer to cook such as potatoes.

Chef's notes

A tip picked up whilst learning Indian cookery works well here. If you have the time beforehand, cut a few random slashes in the chicken pieces, place in a bowl with the juice (and squeezed-out segments) of a lemon or so, together with 1/2 a teaspoon of fine salt and leave to marinade for a few hours in the fridge. It really tenderises the chicken.

See also

• Get chicken pieces the economical way, joint the chicken yourself