Baked Squash Gratin

A useful 1 dish meal that works well with any squash or pumpkin but I've made it most often with butternut. If using a very large one, you may want to use just half & make soup with the rest.

Prep time is about 10-15 minutes (cutting up the squash takes up the majority of this!), cooking takes about an hour.

Makes 2 big portions.

Ingredients
1 Butternut (or other) Squash
4-6 Chicken Thigh Fillets, Skinless
1 Onion
1 Yellow or Red Pepper
2 Courgettes
8 or more Chestnut Mushrooms
1 crushed garlic clove
Olive Oil
50g strong flavoured hard Cheese, grated (e.g. Pecorino, Parmesan or Cheddar - all work well)
2 tsp Pesto

Method
1. Preheat oven to a moderate temperature (gas mark 6).
2. Cut up the squash, chicken and all other veg into bite size chunks.
3. Put all veg except the mushrooms into an oven proof dish. Add the chicken & garlic.
4. Pour over about 1 tbsp of olive oil and mix well so that everything is coated lightly.
5. Cook for about 30 minutes then check & stir.
6. 10 minutes before you want to eat, add mushrooms, stir in the pesto and sprinkle cheese on top. Return the dish to the oven.


Variations

• I like making this dish as a very yellow affair - yellow peppers, yellow courgettes
• Carrots, Aubergines and/or Sweet Potatoes also work well either in place of some of the squash or the courgettes.
• It makes a good vegetarian dish - add more veg, delete the chicken.
• It doesn't have to be basil pesto - it works well with pretty much any including rocket.
• It can be done as a spicy chicken dish instead - mix in some harrissa paste before cooking and delete the pesto later on. Aubergines work very well with this variation.
• If using chicken breast instead of thighs, don't add until about 30 minutes before you serve to stop it from drying out.