Once you roast grains like this in the oven, you won’t look back – it’s the best topping to add texture to your meals. The relish adds a bright freshness, contrasting well with the sweet, soft squash, and you can add any other seasonal veg to the recipe that you have to hand, like roasted beetroot or celeriac. You can swap in any white beans for the cannellini beans if preferred.

Serves: 4
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 large squash, deseeded, skin on, and cut into 2.5cm-thick slices
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
250g pre-cooked mixed grains
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans and their liquid
2 tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
20g parsley, finely chopped
50g green olives, finely chopped
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt and black pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas 5 and line a large baking tray with baking parchment.
• Place the squash and garlic cloves on the lined tray, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season well. Roast for 35 minutes.
• Take the tray out of the oven and remove and set aside the garlic cloves. Scatter the pre-cooked grains over the squash and return to the oven for 10–15 minutes until the grains are crispy and the squash is soft.
• Squeeze the cooked garlic from its skin into a high-powered blender with the beans and their liquid, the tahini and lemon juice. Season and blitz until completely smooth.
• Mix the parsley, olives, apple cider vinegar and remaining olive oil in a bowl and season. To serve, spread the blitzed cannellini beans onto a large serving dish, top with the squash and grains and scatter over the parsley and olive relish.

Recipe adapted from The Food For Life Cookbook (Jonathan Cape)