Belly pork and butternut squash roast
By Alison Powell
Comforting, juicy pork with sweet butternut squash, all cooked in one dish meaning minimal washing up – a tasty, easy midweek dinner.
Serves 2-3 (although these numbers depend on so many factors, not least how hungry diners are…)
Ingredients:
- 500g belly pork strips
- Butternut squash, peeled and chopped in to chunks, seeds discarded
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small red chilli (or a teaspoon of lazy chilli)
- Good pinch of salt and grinding of black pepper
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 red onion, peeled and sliced in to large segments
- 500g spinach
- Two heaped teaspoons of dried sage
- Black olives (to taste)
How to:
- Pre-heat the oven to 160˚C/180˚C fan/gas mark 4.
- In a jug, mix together the olive oil, chilli, sage, crushed garlic and salt and pepper.
- Lay the belly pork and butternut squash in an ovenproof baking dish and smear everything in the herby-chilli-garlicky oil.
- Pop it in the oven for half an hour.
- After half an hour, remove carefully and sprinkle over the chunks of red onion. Flip the pork over, move the squash around and pop back in the oven for another half an hour.
- Remove once again and sprinkle the spinach on top.
- Check after 15 minutes. The spinach should be wilted, the pork should be brown with the fat crisping and the butternut squash should look gooey with caramel-coloured tips. If it needs a little longer, pop back in for another 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle over the black olives and another grind of black pepper. Leave it for 5 minutes to let the meat relax.
- Dish up, curl up and enjoy.