The Blog Launch
We love what we do at fig1.co.uk and we do what we love. As a small business engaged with finding the best designed unusual and quirky lifestyle goodies we come across all sorts of creative ideas. We have a diverse and raggle taggle bunch of creatives linked to the business, from illustrators to jewellery makers, gardners to cabinet makers, cooks, graphics experts, computer geeks, musicians … oh, and sometimes we run a shop and internet business.
The shop was always set up to support a local creative community in Bristol, but as the business has grown we have developed links with all sorts of people and want to share some of the best ideas we have come across along the way.
We want this blog to be more than just a list of products we have discovered – we want it to be a collection of ideas.
-Mark Fletcher, Director fig1.co.uk
Roast Winter Squash Salad
At this time of year with the nights drawing rapidly in I find my thoughts turning more and more to comfort food, luckily comfort food for me doesn’t need to be unhealthy. I grew up in a family that owned local restaurants and, Mum in particular, was always great at working with whatever was seasonal to create meals and menus. With any meal I always start with the vegetables. Since I work from home a lot of the time, doing marketing for fig1.co.uk, I find recipes like this winter squash one really good: it is the sort of thing which doesn’t take too long to prepare (approx 15mins) and which will happily cook itself in the oven while I work.
Ingredients
1 large winter squash
1 bag of shallots
Sprigs of winter herbs such as rosemary and thyme
1 lemon
A handful of pumpkin seeds
Half a pack of feta
Preheat your oven to 180 centigrade / gas mark 4
Cut the squash into 1-2 centimetre thick slices. Pop in a roasting dish with the lemon cut in half, the shallots peeled and halved if they are large or left whole if not, the olive oil and the herbs, plus a little salt and pepper to season. Toss the ingredients together so the seasoning and oil is on all the vegetables.
Roast for an hour or until the squash is soft. Next pop some pumpkin seeds on top of the dish and up the temperature to 220c or gas mark 6 for 10 minutes to brown the squash and the seeds. Once it is out of the oven leave to cool for 10 minutes, then squeeze the lemon over the squash and discard the shells and pull out the biggest lumps of rosemary / thyme stalks.
Crumble over half a pack of feta and serve with some crusty bread.
Vary the recipe as you like – carrots with cumin and feta work well as an alternative. Or mix into cous cous with olives for a salad for your lunch box.