Crown Prince Squash with Goats Cheese and Cucumber Dressing

Of all the varieties of squash, crown prince has to be my favourite: smooth, creamy and rich. It's a steak if you're a vegetarian. That's why it's perfect with a bit of light cucumber and lemon juice to cut through the richness. This is great for a light lunch or a side dish for your evening winter roast.

1 crown prince squash
200g goats cheese
100ml extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper

Dressing:
1 cucumber
1 lemon
Pinch of sea salt

Method:
Cut the crown prince squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Using a sharp knife, peel off the skin and cut squash into large chunks and lay out on baking tray. Drizzle over olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Place in oven set at 200ºC for 45 minutes.
For the dressing, cut the cucumber into quarters and place in food processor with juice of lemon and salt, blend together until cumber is puréed.
Once the squash is roasted, serve with large pieces of goats cheese and cucumber dressing.

Polenta Crumbed Pumpkin

This dish is perfect for winter, a great hearty vegetarian substitute for schnitzel. You can use any type of squash for this dish however I prefer the creamy soft taste of Crown Prince squash usually found from mid autum to late winter. This dish is dedicated to all the harmless farm animals who are being slaughted for for the sake of our unimaginative dinner menu ideas. Go hug some cattle today and tell them 'Your Sorry'.

1 Small Crown Prince Squash 400g coarse polenta
200g cup plain flour
2 eggs
300ml milk
410g can of chopped tomatoes
1 brown onion
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sugar
50g butter
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 rosemary stalk
200g feta
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper

Method:
Cut the Pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and skin then slice pumpkin into 1’’ wedges (you should get around 12 wedges) and place aside.
Then your going to need 3 bowls for crumbing the pumpkin in one bowl place the polenta, another bowl the flour and another bowl the egg and milk and beat together till evenly combined then start crumbing the pumpkin wedges. First place a wedge in the flour evenly coating all sides then dip in the egg and lastly coat in the polenta and place aside and repeat with the rest of the pumpkin wedges.
Melt half the butter in a large heave based fry pan on medium heat and evenly distribute several of the crumbed pumpkin wedges round the pan you should be able to fit around 4-5 wedges in the pan, fry each side of the pumpkin for around 3-4 minutes or till golden brown, once cooked place aside in a deep baking tray. Repeat the cooking process with remaining butter. Evenly lay out the pumpkin wedges on baking tray and place in oven on 160oC to finish cooking.

To make the sauce roughly dice the onion and peeled garlic, add olive oil to a sauce pan and bring to the heat over a hot element, add the onion and garlic and cook till the onion starts to lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and bring to the simmer then add the sugar and season with salt and pepper, turn the down the heat and place a lid on the sauce. Remove the rosemary leaves from stalk and finally chop and add to the sauce, cook the sauce for a further 5 minutes.

Once the sauce is cook remove the pumpkin from oven and serve 3 wedges of pumpkin per person with a generous ladle spoon of tomato sauce over the pumpkin and a sprinkle of feta over the sauce and garnish with extra finely chopped rosemary.