Butternut Squash Salad with Spices, Lime, and Green Chile

The week after Ireturned from London, I received a package that followed me home. My lovely UK editor had sent it, the best kind of parcel, one filled with books.

The books included amemoir by a woman who learned to live on a farm, a “how to” book on drinkingwine by Victoria Moore and a cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi.

I had heard ofOttolenghi before. He's a chef in London with four restaurants named afterhimself and another called Nopi. He writes a column in the Guardian, whichbegan about vegetarian cookery and now expands much wider. The cookbook myeditor sent me was his first cookbook, a UK-version cookbook, charming with itsBritishisms: aubergine not eggplant, grams not cups. I cooked a number ofdishes—most recently a honeyed sweet potato and chickpea stew, which remindedme that simple is great and healthy can taste far better than good. I’ve beenenamored of Ottolenghi ever since.

The other day, I wenton a cookbook-buying binge. My schedule has been so packed the last few weeksthat I haven’t had much time to cook. And since cooking is one of my favoriteways to unwind, to relax, to push the cobwebs of anxiety out of my brain, I’vebeen feeling like my insides are tied up in knots. Even if I don’t have time tocook, however, I could never give up those few minutes before bed when I read.And I’ve been reading lots of cookbooks. I love it when I can get lost in acookbook like I would in a novel. It inspires the best kind of dreams.

Anyway. On thiscookbook-buying binge, I purchased Ottolenghi’s newest vegetarian tome: Plenty. It’s a beautiful book with a pillow-presscover and recipes organized by vegetable. (Last night I dreamt about eggplant.)

And last weekendBecca came to visit. She’s one of my best friends but lives in San Francisco,so seeing each other in person is a rare delight. Her first night here I cookeda little vegetarian feast from Plenty.It included a salad made with roasted butternut squash, sweet spices, spicypeppers, limes, cilantro, and a yogurt-tahini sauce. It sounds like a mouthful,but it was pretty much perfect. I’ve been thinking about this salad so muchever since that I made it again Friday night for some other lovely friends, whoagreed.   

To make this salad,you take a butternut squash, peel it (or not; I kind of like the crunchyroasted skin), slice it, and roast it with a brush of oil mixed with cardamomand allspice. When you serve it at room temperature, the squash is sprinkledwith crunchy slivers of a spicy green pepper, the herby wash of cilantro, tartpieces of lime, and a nutty, smooth sauce. I don’t know what it is about thissalad, but it works.

Butternut SquashSalad with Spices, Lime, and Green Chile

Adapted from YotamOttolenghi’s Plenty

2 limes

Salt

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 big butternut squash

1 tablespoon cardamom

1 teaspoon allspice

½ cup Greek yogurt

2 ½ teaspoons tahini

1 tablespoon lime juice (ormore to taste)

1 green chile (I usedjalapeno), stripped of seeds and pith, sliced thin

2/3 cup cilantro leaves,picked off the stalk

Preheat the oven to 400degrees Fahrenheit.  

For the limes: trim off thetops and bottoms of the limes with a paring knife. Now with the limes standing stableon a cutting board, use your knife to cut down the sides, slicing off the skinand the white pith. Quarter the naked limes, and then cut into very thinslices. Place these slices in a bowl, add a 1-tablespoon drizzle of olive oiland a sprinkle of salt.

For the butternut squash:Cut the squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Now,cut the squash into slices – about ½ inch thick. Lay them out on a baking sheet(Ottolenghi suggests on a piece of parchment paper).

Mix together the cardamomand allspice in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and stir. Brushthis spiced oil over the squash. Season the squash with salt. Roast for about15 minutes, or until tender, and then let cool. (Here is where you can peel offthe skin… or not. I’ve done it both ways, and love the slight crunch when it isleft on.)

For the sauce: Whisktogether the yogurt, tahini, lime juice, and two tablespoons of water. Seasonto taste with salt. (The sauce will be thick, but you want to be able todrizzle it over the squash, so add more lime juice or water to taste to thin itout if necessary.)

To serve: Arrange the squashon a serving platter. Drizzle with the yogurt-tahini sauce. Spoon the limeslices and their juice evenly over top. Scatter the chile slices. And then thecilantro. Enjoy.