Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini (Vegan GF)

A tender and sticky roasted hassleback butternut squash flavoured with garlic and served with a herby tahini dressing, vegan feta cheese and a simple grain salad. This is simple, vegan, gluten-free and veg-packed eating at its best!

I love roasted vegetables, from corn to peppers to broccoli and cauliflower… anything and everything! But roasted squash will always hold a special place in my heart. I love how tender and sweet the squash flesh is and how sticky and glazed the top of the squash turns in the oven. They are so versatile, and hassleback-ing the squash is a new favourite. This isn’t anything new, but it’s been a long time coming to my recipe archives. After my Hassleback Sweet Potato and Chickpea Traybake, I have been hassleback-ing away but only now am I sharing a new recipe.

These Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini are simple, honest and good whole-foods. It’s the kind of meal that fills you up nicely without feeling stuffed and you feel so nourished. There’s plenty of colour, texture, taste and vibrancy to this meal – and it makes great leftovers. If you haven’t tried roasted squash cold the next day, you’ll love this one.

How to make the Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini?

• Hassleback the squash: all this means is scoring the flesh of the squash from the top to about 1-cm from the bottom of the squash. This makes all the thin slices but keeps the squash intact. The closer together the cuts, the more impressive the hassleback.
• Garlic: slice the garlic thinly and stuff them into the squash scores.
• Roast until tender: the squash will be tender and cooked though while being crisp and golden on top or starting to char at the edges. 
• Prepare the salad: more info on this below.
• Make the herby tahini: such a deliciously creamy and flavoursome dressing!
• Serve the squash: piled on top of the grain salad and smothered with the herby tahini and sprinkled with vegan feta cheese and pomegranate.

In just a few simple steps, a handful of ordinary ingredients became extra-ordinary. The flavours are so delicious: warming sweet slightly earthy squash with vibrant herby and zest tahini dressing, salty vegan feta cheese and sweet fruity pomegranate. 

The salad is a basic mix but works really well with the Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini:

• Grain: I love to use giant couscous but for a gluten-free option use quinoa, buckwheat or even rice.
• Salad leaves: anything will work like rocket, watercress, spinach or lettuce.
• Pomegranate: these are so fruity, and I love the colour.
• Vegan feta cheese: I am recently loving vegan feta cheese. It’s so salty and packs so much flavour. Simply crumble it over the salad and the squash. You can use any salt cheese or leave it out, if you don’t have the vegan feta.

It’s a very simple salad but simple is best to highlight the delicious Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini. Which brings us to the herby tahini dressing. Like most of my favourite dressings, the base is tahini – a sesame seed paste.

• Tahini: the better the quality of tahini, the better the overall dressing. My favourite is Belazu and it is really creamy and runny in consistency.
• Fresh mint: fresh herbs are essential for the best dressings but if you don’t have fresh mint, you could use basil, coriander or even parsley for different flavoured dressings.
• Lemon: for a zingy vibrancy to the dressing,
• Garlic: because garlic makes everything better. It adds so much flavour and a gentle heat to the creamy tahini.

That’s all we need for this Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini to come together. As I mentioned above, this is a great mid-week simple dinner bit also makes delicious leftovers. Pack some into a lunchbox and you’ll be very happy you cooked the night before. While it is so simple, it’s also an impressive meal to serve to friends and family – the simple hassleback-ing is so effective!

This meal is such a crowd pleaser as it is vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and wholesome, too. It’s simple to prepare and relies on a few ingredients that come together for a delicious dinner or lunch.

If you are looking for more light and wholesome meals, how about my:

• Tomato Pesto and Gnocchi Traybake
• Garlicky Kale Almond and Tahini Dressing
• Vegan “Drunken” Noodles
• Hassleback Sweet Potato and Chickpea Traybake
• Mushroom and Butterbean Chickpea Flatbreads with Herby Hummus

Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini (Vegan GF)

• Servings: 2
• Time: 60 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A tender and sticky roasted hassleback butternut squash flavoured with garlic and served with a herby tahini dressing, vegan feta cheese and a simple grain salad. This is simple, vegan, gluten-free and veg-packed eating at its best.

Ingredients

Squash:
• 1 medium butternut squash
• 2 garlic cloves
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
Salad:
• 100g couscous/quinoa/buckwheat
• 2 handfuls salad leaves
• 50g pomegranate
• 60g vegan feta cheese
Herby Tahini:
• 60g tahini
• 5g fresh mint leaves
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled
• 2-3 tbsp water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180Fan/200*C and line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Peel the squash and then slice in half lengthways. Score into the back of the squash, leaving 1-cm gap at the bottom to hold the squash together. Repeat all along the back of both of the squash every ½-cm.
3. Peel and thinly slice the garlic cloves and nestle in the scores of the squash. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 45-60 minutes until tender and golden on top.
4. Meanwhile, cook the grains and leave to one side.
5. Make the herby tahini by adding all the ingredients to a small blender and blitz until smooth, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Once cooked, lay the squash over the cooked grains and salad leaves. Drizzle over the herby tahini, sprinkle over the pomegranate and crumble the vegan feta cheese.
7. Eat straight away or keep the squash and grains (not the salad leaves, pomegranate or feta, add these just before serving) in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

I look forward to hearing what you think of this Hassleback Squash with Herby Tahini so please let me know in the comments below and tag me in your meals – I love seeing them! I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With hassleback squash love x