Roasted Squash (or Any Veg!) with Honey Whipped Feta and Chili Crisp
I’m big into lazy fridge cooking these days. Step 1: forage in the fridge and cook whatever. Step 2: Make a sauce or a supporting condiment with whatever else is in there.
Sometimes this results in a just-perfectly-fine meal. But sometimes it ends up being surpisingly wow-worthy, a meal I’ll post online or actually text my friends about because it’s just that good and simple. And in this case, a few truly lazy shortcuts ended up being my favorite part of the meal.
Here’s what happened: I had some local mini delicata squash from The Produce Box which had been sitting in my kitchen for a few weeks. I like delicata because they generally don’t need peeling, and I consider peeling extremely sturdy root vegetables to be a particularly annoying kitchen task. I’ll avoid it whenever possible. Same for scooping out the seeds. While I’m all for roasting seeds, it’s enough of a pain to pry them out of the flesh, clean off all the little strands, wash and dry them, etc etc, that I often don’t bother. But I don’t want them to go to waste! So instead I just ditch all the extra work and roast them as is. Slice, toss in some olive oil and salt, and roast at 425 degrees until they brown a bit on each side (about 20 to 25 minutes).
Here’s what they looked like after (apologies for the low-light photo), once I’d snacked on a whole bunch straight off the pan. I also had a tray of Brussels sprouts going at the same time - you could swap in so many different vegetables here, anything from roasted onions to cabbage wedges to sweet potatoes.
For the sauce, I continued to forage and found a block of feta pushed to the back of the fridge, the remnants of an oversized Costco container. I popped it in the food processor with a scoop each of sour cream and Greek yogurt, both of which had also been hanging out in the fridge for a long time. I squeezed in some honey, added a bit of salt, and whizzed until it was smooth and fluffy and seemed like it would taste good on just about anything.
Smear it onto a plate, top with your roasted veggies, spoon on some chili crisp and BOOM! Job done.
Roasted Winter Squash with Whipped Honey Feta and Chili Crisp
Ingredients
- 1 large or a few small winter squash
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- About 6 ounces feta (if you have slightly more or less, that's fine too. Make extra and you can save it for all your future dip needs).
- 1/4 cup sour cream, cream cheese, or Greek yogurt, or more to taste
- About 1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
- A good spoonful of chili crisp (optional, but so simple and amazing). Other options include harissa, chili flakes, or whatever you like to spoon on top of things for a good flavor and texture boost.
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Prep your squash according to your level of laziness/particular opinions on texture. For example, I like to keep on thinner skins of squash like delicata and acorn and sometimes even feel too lazy to peel a butternut. I also like to keep the seeds in for ease - I like the crunch, but if you don't, you can always pull them out later.
- Cut the squash into roughly 1/2-inch slices in your shape of choice.
- Drizzle on enough olive oil to lightly coat and sprinkle generously with salt. You can do this in a large bowl then transfer to a sheet pan, or right on the sheet pan if you don't feel like washing extra dishes.
- Roast, flipping halfway through, for about 25 minutes, or until the squash is soft and can be easily pierced with a fork and both sides are lightly browned.
- Meanwhile, pop the feta into a food processor with a scoop of your dairy product of choice. Squeeze in some honey and blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust with more honey, or a pinch of salt or grind of pepper. Drizzle in a bit of olive oil if it's too thick.
- To serve, spread the feta mixture on to a plate and top with the roast squash. Generously spoon on some chili crisp and enjoy!
