SWEET PESTO BAKED SQUASH

I haven't really been into cooking recently - I don't know why, I am still certainly into eating. Anyway I have been meaning to cook this recipe for a while - it is Fay Ripley's third book and could be cooked as a main or a side. I did it as a side with some salmon. I have to admit that as I was cutting up the butternut squash I said to myself, it is such a hassle I will never cook squash again. However when I ate it, I thought it was so delicious, I can't wait to cook this again!! It took 15 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 butternut squashes, halved lengthways
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 heaped tablespoons of fresh pesto
2 heaped tablespoons of mascarpone
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan

Firstly the "tricky" part - cut the butternut squashes in half, deseed and cut the long narrow end off each half. Put the bowl like ends into a baking tray. Peel the long ends, chop into small cubes (mine weren't small enough) and add to the tray. This is a messy process! Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45-50 minutes until cooked and tender. I was trying to do all this before taking Arabella to ballet and it was a real rush!

In a bowl, mix the pesto and mascarpone together, season, and then stir through the small cooked cubes of squash.

Divide the mixture between the squash bowls and load some Parmesan on top. Then put them back in the oven for ten minutes.

Serve and enjoy! As I said we had ours with salmon however they would be delicious with chicken or lamb or just on their own. They tasted fantastic, the cheese, pesto and squash really go well together and after the initial cutting up, they weren't difficult to make. Despite promising myself I would not cook with butternut squash again, I now can't wait to have these again soon.

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