At Home with Marco Pierre White 2011 - (Page 24)

SEASONAL VEG Butter nut squash HOW TO PICK A WINNER THE LOWDOWN Butternut squash is a native American veg and a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, along with pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini. A long-established part of the diet in all ﬁve continents, it’s thought wild squash was eaten in the Americas over 5,000 years ago and it’s known to have been cultivated by the Incas in the 15th century. Butternut is a winter squash, harvested when mature. Summer squash, such as cucumbers, have edible skins and less ﬂavoured ﬂesh, as they’re eaten at an immature stage of growth. Look out for squash with a ﬁrm, unbroken rind and an even beige colour – a butternut with a green tinge should be put back on the shelf. If you can push a ﬁngernail into the rind, the squash is immature and will lack ﬂavour. A squash should feel heavy for its size, indicating a high moisture content. Generally speaking, the bigger the squash, the deeper the ﬂavour. GROW YOUR OWN Sow your seeds In May, gently push each butternut squash seed, vertically, into a small pot containing moist compost. Place on a warm windowsill. Big seedlings will appear within 7-10 days. Plant out Four weeks after sowing, your plants will be ready to plant outside. Acclimatise the butternuts to the weather beforehand by standing them outside during the day and bringing them in at night, for a week. Plant each one into a football-sized hole ﬁlled with a mixture of soil and compost, a metre apart from its butternut neighbour. Sunny, sheltered spots are best. Fruity friends Once the plants have started to ﬂower, green fruits will appear. When these start to swell, remove some of the leaves so they’re open to sunlight. Cut loose Around September to October, the bushy plants will bear four or ﬁve fruits. Cut each fruit from the plant with the stalk intact, and let your squash ripen on a warm windowsill for a couple of weeks. Store your butternuts in a cool, dry place and they should keep for several months. 1 2 BUTTERNUT IS A RICH SOURCE OF BETACAROTENE, FIBRE AND VITAMIN C 3 4 STUFF IT Halve and deseed a butternut squash and you have a perfect cavity ready for stufﬁng. For a Moroccan ﬂavour, mix 250g minced lamb, cooked, with 50g couscous, 1tbsp tomato purée and 1tsp cumin. Bake the squash halves until the ﬂesh is soft, spoon in the mince mix, then sprinkle with cheese and put back in the oven to heat through. Vegetarians can use Quorn mince – it’s just as scrumptious! 024 | OCTOBER 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of At Home with Marco Pierre White 2011

EDITOR’S LETTER
HELLO FROM MARCO
NOTEBOOK
DIARY DATES
SEASONAL FARE
MUG SHOT
WIDGET WATCH
SUNDAY LUNCH
MODERN DAY MARCO
MASTERCLASS
IN THE KNOW
COMFORT FOOD
GO GLOBAL
THE FAME GAME
A GLASS AND A HALF
ECO EATING
FANCY A PINT?
BOOZY BITES
TICK-TOCK TUCKER
CUISINE BY COMPASS
LAY THE TABLE
THROW THE PERFECT PARTY
MARCO’S MENU
PRAWN POWER
CHOCS AWAY
COCKTAIL O’CLOCK
BOTTOMS UP
BOOK THE BEST TABLE IN TOWN
THE GREAT WHITE GALLERY
WILD WITH MARCO
FOOD FADS
COMING SOON
RECIPE ROUND-UP

At Home with Marco Pierre White 2011