Autumnal Platter

I decided to call this one Autumnal Platter. To be completely transparent with you I might as well call it Need to empty my fridge asap. Sometimes you buy more than you need or you are left with many different bits and pieces in your fridge. The great thing about it is that you can improvise and sometimes you are rewarded with a beautiful and unexpected dish.

I takes a while to start daring and not following specific recipes but, I can assure you that the more you try the better you’ll get.
If you don’t feel confident enough I suggest you buy Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samine Nosrat. I am simply obsessed with this book and love how it simplifies the main elements of cooking. It gives you some of the science behind it and by the time you reach the last page I can guarantee you’ll feel more comfortable improvising. Cooking will have a completely different meaning.

Back to the recipe now, here is how I emptied my fridge.

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Need to empty my fridge asap

Ingredients

Squash
Parsnips
Spinach 
Feta
Blackberries
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt & Pepper

Dressing

3½ tbsp tahini paste 
1½ tbsp lemon juice 
4 tbsp water 
1 small garlic clove, crushed 
1 tbsp Maple Syrup (or honey)
Salt & Pepper

Black Sesame & dill to decorate

You can decide the quantities based on how many people you are

Step by Step

• Wash and slice your squash. Peel and slice your parsnips lengthwise. In a bowl combine the olive oil, salt, pepper and 2 crushed close of garlic. Add the squash and parsnips in the bowl and mix well

• Heat up a griddle pan and grill the squash and parsnips. Turn them from time to time but make sure you let them char a bit. When you can pierce them with a fork they are ready

• Separately in a shaker mix all the dressing ingredients. Depending on how thick your tahini paste is you might have to add some extra water

• In a platter, place you washed spinach leaves, add your parsnips, squash and blackberries on top. Drizzle with the dressing and scatter a few black sesame seeds and some chopped dill

• Enjoy!

Tips & cheats

If you don’t have a griddle pan you can roast the squash and parsnips in the oven at 200 C fro roughly 20-30min.

If you have a griddle pan but don’t want to stand for too long, you can put the sliced squash and parsnips in the microwave for a couple of minutes. This will make them softer. Don’t go overboard with the minutes or you’ll cook them through and they won’t be as tasty.