Use prawns for this in place of the chicken if you prefer – both are delicious.
Serves 4-6
What you need
- 1 small butternut squash
- Salt, pepper and oil
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 red pepper
- 2-3 sticks celery
- 150g mushrooms
- 150g cooked chicken
For the dressing:
- 5cm fresh root ginger
- 1 red chilli
- Juice of 1 lime
- 60ml fish sauce
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
What to do:
- Quarter the squash and remove the seeds with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil, then roast in a hot oven at gas mark 7, 220℃ for 40-45 minutes until tender. Allow to cool, then scoop the flesh off the skin and dice or shape with a melon baller.
- Seed and dice the cucumber and pepper, slice the celery and the mushrooms, if they are bigger than buttons.
- Grate the unpeeled ginger coarsely, gather it in your hand and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Seed and finely chop the chili, add it with the remaining dressing ingredients to the ginger juice and whisk together. Toss the salad ingredients and the chicken together in the dressing before serving.
• Rosemary Moon recipe, from More than just soup and lanterns, creative cooking with pumpkins and squashes.