Here's a pumpkin patch recipe to chase away those autumn blues in conjunction with our friends at the award-winning farm shop Bert's Barrow. They've got through thousands of pumpkins and squashes this season as people have flocked to their fields - suitably socially-distanced of course.
For this recipe they provide the ingredients - we just cook them!
Squash, Yorkshire Blue and bacon toad in the hole
Serves 4
1 butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into wedges
2 small red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
4 rashers smoked bacon, cut into large pieces
3 whole garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Good handful of sage, of which 4 small leaves finely chopped
Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil
140g plain flour
Pinch salt
3 large free-range eggs
140ml whole milk
140ml vegetable stock
2 tsp Dijon mustard
150g Yorkshire Blue cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Put the squash, onions, smoked bacon, garlic cloves and 3-4 sprigs of sage in a roasting tin. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil and roast for 30 minutes until tender and starting to char.
2. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the salt and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs, the milk and the vegetable stock. Whisk into a smooth batter, add the finely chopped sage leaves and Dijon mustard, stir through and chill in the fridge until needed.
3. Once the squash and onions are cooked, remove from the oven, discard the sage leaves and set aside. Add a generous glug of Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil to a second roasting tin and place in the hot oven until smoking. Meanwhile toss the squash mixture into a bowl and add the crumbled Yorkshire Blue cheese and redcurrant jelly.
4. Remove the smoking roasting tin from the oven, quickly add the squash, cheese and redcurrant jelly mix – careful, it will spit - then pour in the chilled Yorkshire pudding batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the batter is puffed up and golden. Serve with a side of green veg and tuck in!