make | better late than never(!): butternut squash burritos

I realise this update is really very late & I apologise! I don't even have any real reason for it being so late - except I kept forgetting, and I kept worrying about going back to Uni.  Only two weeks! Eek!  Also, having a look at my Uni timetable, I think it's unlikely I'll be able to keep Tuesday as my update day - I think we will be moving to Wednesday, starting from next week! :)

Anyway, when we did evenutally manage to get round to our make of the week, we wanted to try something a bit different.  Your typical burrito comprises a big tortilla wrapped around rice, refried beans, mince, salsa, guacamole, maybe some sour cream if you're living in America, and maybe some cheese.  They can be really yummy, don't get us wrong, but our mission of the week was to create a burrito that was just as good as this, but using the ingredients we had left in the fridge.  Cue butternut squash bought for a stew and not used!

By chance, our burrito recipe could be really easily made vegan friendly - just leave out the cheese (or substitute with vegan cheese).  

Butternut squash is actually a very versatile vegetable - we love it's delicious sweet flesh in stews for thickening, or in a delicious soup, and just roasted to top a salad.  There's loads of stuff you can do with it.  It's also really good for you.  It's beautiful golden colour is there to highlight it's high levels of beta-carotene, which is an anti-carcinogen.  What's more, when you eat something high in beta-carotene, you automatically turn it into Vitamin A, which is really good for your eyes.  That's where the saying comes from: carrots really do help you see in the dark!! Squash is also a great source of Vitamin C - 1 serving gives you 50% of your RDA.  

Anyway, enough of us extolling the health virtues of butternut squash, and to the recipe!

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x

Butternut Squash Burritos 

Makes enough to feed 4 hungry people + leftovers for lunch the next day! Yummy in a wrap cold, or to top your salad.  

100g dry brown basmati rice 

1 onion, chopped 

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 orange pepper, chopped

2 medium sized carrots, chopped

2 teaspoons cumin seeds 

1/2 teaspoon (or more or less to taste) chilli flakes 

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 normal sized can of whatever beans you have / like (we used borlotti, simply because that's what we had in the store cupboard!  It'd work well with anything though - kidney beans are really popular and would be great, or you could use black eyed beans... the choice is yours!) 

1 butternut squash, cubed and roasted

4 big tortilla wraps 

Toppings to serve: cherry tomato salsa (homemade: chop your cherry tomatoes, add lime juice, coriander, black pepper and some chopped red onion if you have any - easy!), avocado, grated cheese, salad etc...

• Roast your butternut squash.  Get your oven quite hot (200 degrees C) and cover a roasting tin in tin foil.  Cut the skin off the butternut squash, and cube it.  (This does require some effort - those squashes are really hard!!)  Put it in the tin, spray with a little olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper and a little Maldon sea salt.  Roast for 30 minutes.  

• In the meantime, you can cook your brown rice.  It normally takes about 25 minutes, but follow the directions on the back of your packet. 

• After all this is done, put the onion and garlic into a big pan, with a spray of olive oil.  Cook these for about 5 minutes, and then add in the cumin, chilli flakes and turmeric.  

• Now you can add the orange pepper, carrot, rice and beans.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  If the pan starts sticking, keep adding splashes of water so you steam fry your veggies.  Give it all a whiff - it should be smelling really good by now! 

• Add your squash to the pan, and squash it all down with the back of your wooden spoon.  

• Put everything on the table in big bowls and let everyone dig in.  Yum!