Butternut Ragu


Keen to believe that it would be the answer to all my prayers, I put a spiralizer on my Christmas list a few years ago. My brother, Tom, kindly bought me one of the twirly gadgets complete with hilariously poorly-translated instructions. It was my go-to favourite thing for a while, with everything in the fridge being spiralized in every way possible thoughout that January. Eventually, however, it went to live in the gadget cupboard, where such things go to rust and die. More recently, though, my SP experiments have encouraged me to revisit my old friend and it has been given a reprieve. 

This sunny dish is one of the results of my renewed love affair. Whilst I can't pretend that veg spaghetti has the same hit for me as actual spaghetti, I think it gives a great texture to dishes and keeps things feeling pretty fresh and different. This is syn-free so really adaptable as part of a day plan. It could also be free from any use of HEA allowance and vegan if you miss out the cheese. Alternatively, it could be given a richer edge by the inclusion of 8 black olives in brine for 1.5 syns per portion.  



As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Butternut Ragu

 Makes 2 -  syn-free (yay!)

1/2 butternut squash, peeled, cored and cut into chunks suitable for spiralizing
1 courgette
1 red pepper
1 red onion
2 tsp capers (I used jarred in brine) 
3 garlic cloves crushed
10 leaves of fresh basil 
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
1 tbsp soy sauce 
1/2 carton of passata 
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tin borlotti beans, drained
30g light cheddar, grated using parmesan grater 

 Prep the vegetables - courgettes into thick slices, then quartered, the red pepper into thick chunks and the red onion into quarters and then sliced into three.

On a chopping board, finely chop the capers into a chunky pulp and crush the garlic cloves.

Spiralize the butternut squash on the width setting on your spiralizer that is about the thickness of normal spaghetti.

Put this into a steamer over a gentle rolling boil whilst you prep the ragu (needs about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the strands).

Spray a good non-stick pan with spray oil then gently heat before adding first the onion, then the courgette and after a few moments add the pepper.

Once the onions have started become a little translucent, add the garlic and capers and stir. Cook for a few moments, adding the soy sauce if it is starting to catch.

Add in the drained borlotti beans, the passata, the oregano and bouillon powder and bring to the boil.

Once boiling bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the courgette has softened slightly.

Serve the steamed butternut strands into the bowls and spoon the chunky ragu over the top. Grating your cheddar over the top using a parmesan grater makes the cheese spread more widely and seem like more!

Tear the basil leaves over the top of the dish and serve immediately.


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