#45 - Squash Season
Pork, squash and crispy rice salad + spiced squash soup with halloumi croutons
Hello subscribers!
Autumn is my favourite time of year, and I am over the moon to be back in cosy season bringing you lots of comforting recipes to hunker down with over the coming months.
One my my favourite bits of produce that emerges in this season is squash. When it’s not treated right, it is too claggy and sweet, but in the right conditions, adds beautiful colour, bulk and brightness to so many dinners. This edition of the newsletter brings you a recipe for a spiced squash soup, plus a zingy autumnal salad with pork, squash and crispy rice.
You’ll also get my recommendations for a restaurant, wine bar and cook I’m loving this week, plus a really fabulous gift that I think you should all buy yourselves.
Sophie x
The Recipes
Pork, Squash and Crispy Rice Salad
This is inspired by a Laotian dish called nam khao, which involves crispy rice balls flavoured with curry paste, sausage, mint and coriander, as well as lots of lime and fish sauce. I’ve omitted curry paste, and the ball formation, to let the squash, lime and chilli do the talking here. The crispy rice’s texture is gorgeous, adding a nice amount of crunch and chew to an otherwise quite soft dish.
The sweetness of squash goes so well with punchier south east Asian flavours like chilli, fish sauce and lime, and it also an absolute treat with fatty pork. It’s a really lovely way of enjoying seasonal veg at a time of year where lots of heavy cream and carbs normally come into play (I of course love heavy cream and carbs too, but life is all about balance isn’t it).
The content of pork fat is really important in keeping this dish moist. You want to be getting no lower than 10% pork fat, but something like 20% would be even better. Lower fat content in meat = drier meat, and nobody wants that.
The rice you could cook up to 2 days in advance. Just make sure you cool it quickly and get it in an airtight container in the fridge to chill.
Serves 4
215g jasmine rice
1kg butternut squash
500g pork mince (at least 10% fat)
2 banana shallots
1 red chilli
2 cloves of garlic
a small bunch of mint leaves
a small bunch of coriander leaves
For the dressing:
1 red chilli
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 limes
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
salt and vegetable oil
Rinse 175g of your basmati rice with cold water in a sieve until the water runs clear.
Add your rice to a small saucepan along with 350ml of cold water and a good pinch of salt, then bring it up to a boil. Place a tight fitting lid on the pan, turn the heat down to very low, and simmer it for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave it to sit for another 5 minutes.
Heat your oven to 190°C fan.
Deseed your squash and cut it into 4cm big chunks, then get it onto a baking tray. Drizzle it with 1 tbsp vegetable oil and a good pinch of salt, then toss it all together. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until each piece is tender and lightly caramelised.
Pour your remaining 40g of jasmine rice into a large frying pan, and toast it for about 5 minutes over a medium heat, until it is a lovely shade of golden brown. Pour it into a pestle and mortar, and grind it into a powder.
Add 4 tbsp vegetable oil to the same pan, and heat it over a medium flame. Pour your rice into the pan, and compact it down with a spatula. Fry it for about 7 minutes, until is it golden and crispy, then flip it over (it will break up a bit, and that’s the aim of the game). Fry it for another 7 minutes on the other side, breaking it up into chunks with your spatula as it cooks. Pour it into a large bowl.
Finely chop chilli and garlic. Peel and finely slice your shallots into rounds.
Add your pork mince to a bowl, along with your garlic, chilli and 1 tsp salt. Give it a mix to combine it.
Make your dressing. Finely chop your remaining chilli, then add it to a small bowl, along with your sesame oil, fish sauce, the juice of 2 limes and your sugar. Give it a mix, then season it to taste with salt.
Get your frying pan heating again over a medium-high heat with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, then add your pork into the pan in chunks. Fry it for about 5 minutes, until it is cooked and starting to take on a little colour, breaking it up with your spatula as you go so that it resembles mince. Add your shallots and cook for a minute more.
Pour your pork mince into your rice bowl. Get your squash in there, as well as your coriander and mint leaves, then pour in your dressing and ¾ of your toasted rice powder. Give it a really good toss.
Spoon it onto a platter or individual plates, then sprinkle over your remaining rice powder. Serve it up.
Spiced Squash Soup with Halloumi Croutons
A complaint I sometimes hear about a butternut squash is that they are a little too sweet and claggy. A very good way to counteract this is to match it with warming spices to balance the sweetness, but also to temper it with something acidic. With a soup, it works beautifully to whizz them up with a tin of tomatoes, which do just this.
The halloumi croutons are excellent for adding a bit of texture. Also, by dropping them into the hot soup, they stay hot and soft, rather than turning brittle as grilled halloumi often does in a salad.
Serves 4