a golden harvest

Not so many months ago, I sowed some butternut squash seeds, variety Hunter, in small pots on the windowsill. When the weather warmed up I planted them out onto the allotment and now it is time to harvest.

The magic of  growth from seed to fruit never fails to amaze!

And the lovely sunny weather we had this summer has resulted in a bumper crop.

Four plants have produced about 25 golden squash of varying sizes.

Fortunately, they store well in our cool garage.

Squash of any sort are very versatile, making delicious soups, hearty roasted vegetable bakes and gratins.

Then of course, they can be used  in cakes and desserts, think muffins and the all American pumpkin pie.

So a recipe for cinnamon, squash and apple mousse in the latest Waitrose Kitchen magazine is not so unusual as it first sounds.

Following the recipe,
 I roasted 360g of squash and 200g eating apples cut into 2.5 cm pieces and dotted with 3tbsp coconut oil in a hot oven (200 C) for about 30 minutes,
 then blitzed them with 1tsp cinnamon and about 300ml coconut water* to make a thick puree.
At this point, I deviated from the recipe and added a couple of tablespoons of honey to the puree which otherwise reminded me too much of soup.
The puree was then layered with plain yoghurt and topped with toasted walnuts.

It looked very pretty and autumnal but tasted, well ......unusual!
Make of that what you will, but I don't think I shall be adding it to my favourites list.
Although, mr digandweed covered it with copious amounts of extra honey and wolfed it down all the same!

*coconut water, not to be confused with coconut milk, is the clear liquid found inside whole coconuts and is reputed to have many health benefits including high levels of potassium.