Calso Cooks from the Sustainable Larder: Roast Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Salad

Forgive me Father for I have sinned... It has been a month since my last blog post...

And what a month it has been, I've been up the walls with wedding and birthday cakes, cookery demos and a TV appearance on the new evening show on TV3, The Seven o Clock Show. So I think I'll get away with just a few Hail Mary's for my penance.

I'm gonna cram a lot into this post, show some of my recent cakes, the video of my TV appearance and finish you off with a new recipe I've been working on... as usual it is simple but effective!

So here are a few of the wedding cakes I have made in the past 4 weeks..

And then some birthday celebration cakes I made too...

Clare hurling themed cake

Game of Thrones dragon Mother cake

Disney's Frozen castle themed cake

A cake for Hayley on the red carpet with Harry Styles from One Direction

A confirmation cake for my niece Eve..

Eve's Confirmation cake

And finally a cake that I designed for a class I'll be teaching in sugarcraft for teenagers...

Up, up and away cake

Then I had a brilliant night in Bruree, Co Limerick doing a fund raising cookery demonstration to a fantastic packed house at their local community center.

Last Friday night I had my debut on The Seven o Clock Show on TV3, Anton Savage and Mairead Farrell took over the presenting duties on the night form Lucy and Martin whom I'd been used to on Late Lunch Live where I used to cook on. The guest on the night was Keith Duffy from Boyzone fame and later Coronation Street fame... Here is the clip where I made them my famous After Eight Cheesecake

So lastly here is the recipe I promised, it is a very handy one.

Roast Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Salad

Such a simple recipe but a great lunch/lunchbox filler or a side to a meat or fish dinner. serve with the squash warm or cold... either way works beautifully! The goats cheese is rich in calories, it can be swapped for cottage cheese which is significantly less calories as you can see by the calorie count below.

Calories 1014

507 per portion

Calories 822

411 per portion

(if swapping for cottage cheese)

Serves 2:

1 small butternut squash

Rapeseed oil

A large handful of fresh rocket

A small handful of coarsely chopped walnuts

A small handful of dried cranberries

90g goats cheese

Balsamic vinegar dressing

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Carefully cut the squash lengthways down the middle as scoop out the seeds and membrane with a spoon. Chop the halves into bite sized pieces. Place on a roasting tray and lightly drizzle with oil and give a light seasoning with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 40 mins until softened.

In the meantime wash and spin dry the rocket leaves, chop the walnuts if not previously done and if you like you can re-hydrate the cranberries in some boiled water for a few mins and cool them again.

In a large bowl add the rocket, squash, walnuts and cranberries. Give a light drizzle of oil, using a knife break off knobs of goats cheese. give a mix around and divide onto 2 plates, dress generously with the balsamic vinegar dressing and serve.