Roasted pumpkin and radicchio with beans, parsley and chilli

Roasting (or pan-frying) radicchio is always a winner as the cooking mellows out the bitterness of the leaves. It’s great paired with sweet squash and salty cheese and we’ve added butterbeans here so it is substantial enough to be a meal, especially with a slice of bread on the side for mopping up the juices.

If you don’t want to make the full dish then just trying roasting the squash or the radicchio by itself and serving with the parsley and chilli drizzle, either would make an excellent side dish or light lunch. If you are just cooking radicchio add a teaspoon of honey to the drizzle as it helps balance out the intense flavours.

Feel free to swap the ingredients in this recipe - I’ve used pine nuts but toasted hazelnuts, walnuts or pumpkin seeds would work well. And for the cheese you could try feta or leave it out and serve with some Greek yoghurt on the side.

For the beans we’ve used butterbeans but cannellini or haricot would work. I really recommend getting Spanish jarred beans if you can as they are infinitely better than canned beans, especially if you aren’t cooking them much. I really like Bold Bean Co beans - they are increasingly widely available - and there are also good Spanish brands you can buy in many delis.

Serves 4 as a main, more as a side dish

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red kuri squash (about 500g) or use the equivalent amount of another pumpkin or butternut squash
2 heads of radicchio
450g cooked butterbeans (or use cannellini or haricot beans), drained*
50g blue cheese (we used Boyne Valley Blue), crumbled
20g pine nuts
Salt and pepper

For the parsley and chilli drizzle:
20g parsley, thick stems removed and finely chopped
½ red chilli (I used cayenne), seeds removed and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, grated or very finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
A Pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Cut the stem off the squash and then cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds in the middle and discard. Cut the squash into boat-shaped wedges about 3cm across at the widest point. If you are using a red kuri squash, there is no need to peel it, the skin is yummy. If you are using another pumpkin/squash and the skin is thick and hard you may want to peel it.

Put the squash pieces on a baking tray, drizzle over one tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix everything so it is all coated in the oil. Arrange the pieces so the skin side is on the baking tray, and they are standing up like little boats, this helps get the edges a little crispy and caramelised. Put the pumpkin in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Remove any tough outer leaves and then cut the radicchio in half and then in half again, so you have 4 wedges. Put them in a separate baking dish (ideally one you can use for serving the final dish), drizzle over a tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well. After the pumpkin has been cooking for 15 minutes put the radicchio in the oven too and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take the radicchio out of the oven and add the drained beans to the same baking dish, make sure the radicchio is on top and the beans are mostly underneath. Put the dish back in the oven for another five minutes to warm the beans through.

Make the drizzle by combining the chopped parsley, chilli, garlic, oil and lime juice. Season with salt and stir to mix. Taste and add more seasoning as required.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry saucepan over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until golden.

Add the pumpkin wedges to the beans and radicchio. Dollop over the parsley and chilli drizzle and then sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts and crumbled cheese. Serve warm or at room temperature with bread for mopping up the juices.

* This is the equivalent of one large jar or two tins