Cauliflower, Red Kuri Squash & Butter Bean Crumble.

Last week I decided to work on a new recipe with a cosy winter vibe. Plant-based, colourful and with a satisfying texture - you really can’t beat a savoury crumble for these dark winter days.

For the crumble I took inspiration from a granola I made a few posts back but added some savoury elements like fresh thyme, olive oil and nutritional yeast. ‘In Ancient Greece, thyme was burned as incense for sacred ceremonies as a symbol of courage, fortitude and admiration.’ Two of those we need in bucket loads when struggling to conceive, right?! (Murray, Pizzorno and Pizzorno, 2007, p.522)

For the veggies/legumes I went with Red Kuri squash (you should know by now that I’m mildly obsessed with this deliciously nutty winter squash!), cauliflower and some creamy butter beans. I also threw in some turmeric, ginger and garlic for added health benefits.

This dish is great on its own (I even had it heated up for breakfast one day!) or would make a lovely side dish to a Sunday roast. Drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil or tahini to serve.

It’s particularly good to eat during the luteal phase as the winter squash, with its deep orange hue, is a great source of antioxidant carotenes. It’s particularly important to know that, ‘Fat-soluble macronutrients including carotenoids…are obtained exclusively via the diet’. Studies have shown that chopping and cooking may make carotenoids more bio-available, i.e. our body may be able to utilise them better. Winter squash is also a source of vitamins C and B6, key when it comes to progesterone production.

References

Kim, K., Schisterman, E., Silver, R., Wilcox, B., Lynch, A., Perkins, N., Browne, R., Lesher, L., Stanford, J.,Ye, A., Wactawski-Wende, J., and Mumford, S. (2018) Shorter Time to Pregnancy With Increasing Preconception Carotene Concentrations Among Women With 1–2 Previous Pregnancy Losses, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 187, Issue 9, September 2018, Pages 1907–1915, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwy101

Murray, M., Pizzorno, J., and Pizzorno, L. (2007) The Encyclopaedia of Healing Foods. Bath: Time Warner Books

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Cauliflower, Red Kuri Squash & Butter Bean Crumble

Author: Sally Dixon

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 230g cauliflower
• 300g red kuri squash
• 1 carton/230g (drained weight) butter beans
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 15g fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 3 tbsp coconut cream
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 2 tsbp coconut oil

For the crumble:

• 100 gluten-free buckwheat flour
• 60g gluten-free oats
• 100g almonds
• 25g pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1/4 tsp celtic sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Grease one large ceramic baking dish or two smaller ones with a little of the coconut oil.
3. Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a skillet over a medium heat. Add half the squash and cauliflower and cook for around 8mins until lightly browned, stir occasionally.
4. After 8mins transfer to the baking dish/dishes and repeat with the second batch of squash and cauliflower.
5. Once all the squash and cauliflower has been browned and transferred to the baking dishes add a little more coconut oil to the pan and cook the onion, garlic, turmeric and ginger for around 3-5mins. Stir throughout to prevent from burning.
6. Add the coconut cream, stock and butter beans to the pan and stir to combine, cook for another 3mins.
7. Transfer the creamy butter bean sauce to the baking dish/dishes, distributing evenly and stir to combine with the squash and cauliflower.
8. Cover the baking dish/dishes with foil and place in the oven for 40mins, giving a little stir half way through.
9. While the vegetables are in the oven, make your crumble.
10. Place the buckwheat flour, oats, nutritional yeast, salt and fresh thyme into a bowl and mix together.
11. Place the almond and pumpkin seeds into a blender and pulse to break them down into smaller pieces. Just enough to leave some crunch to your crumble.
12. Add the almonds and pumpkin seeds to the dry mix and then add the olive oil. Get your (clean!) hands into the bowl and mix well to create your crumble. Ensure all the buckwheat flour is mixed in.
13. Remove vegetables from oven when ready, top the dish/dishes with the crumble, spreading evenly over the vegetables, and pop back in the oven for another 35mins until lightly browned on the top.
14. Remove from oven and eat! Can be stored in the fridge, covered, for 3 days. Will keep slightly longer in an airtight container.

Did you make this recipe?

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