Slow Food: Roasted Squash and Chickpeas (zucca e ceci)
I am a big fan of butternut squash soup, but sometimes I just want something different. I also like chickpeas in a different form than hummus. This recipe is inspried by one of my favorite restaurants in Rome, Dar Bruttone. This recipe takes some time in that you have to roast the squash, but once the squash is done, you can have this to the table in about ten minutes.. Usually I will roast a pan full, and save half for soup and half for this recipie. There’s two versions - so vegetarians can enjoy as well.
Ingredients:
1 lb/500 grams of butternut squash cubed
1/2 cup of canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup/30 grams of guanciale pieces (or three strips of bacon chopped) or one small red onion chopped (for the vegetarian version)
two Tablespoons olive oil
pecorino or parmiggiano for garnish
Directions
Season the squash in a roasting pan or cookie sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the butternut squash in the oven at 175 C/ 350 F for about 40 min. Once it starts to brown a bit its ready.
Start cooking the guanciale/bacon or the red onion (+1 Tablespoon of olive oil) on medium high heat. Once this part of the dish, bacon or onion, is crispy, remove and set aside. Keep the grease in the pan and throw in the chickpeas for a few minutes, once they start to brown add the squash in and lightly toss together. After about 2-3 minutes, mix in the crispy bacon or onion. Add a bit of pecorino and black pepper to garnish. Done.