beetroot houmous and roasted squash puree with chilli

I made these yesterday to kick off an autumn lunch - beautiful gem colours and warm autumn flavours, serve with flatbread or pitta.

beetroot houmous

600g cooked chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
1 clove of garlic
1 large or 2 small cooked beetroots
2 tablespoons of tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of ground cumin
sea salt

Mash the chickpeas roughly with a fork and finely grate the beetroot, conserving the bright juice. Crush the garlic clove with a little salt and combine all of the ingredients together, including any juice from the beetroot. Taste the houmous - it will have a sweet, earthy flavour - you may want to add more lemon or salt.

If you are short of time, you can opt to pulse all the ingredients together in a blender, but don't blend too smoothly as a bit of texture is a good thing.

I sometimes hold back a few chickpeas for garnishing, along with fronds of dill.

butternut squash puree with chilli

1 squash
3 large red chillis - don't use smaller, hotter chillis as you want the colour without excessive heat
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
fresh rosemary - a couple of stalks
sea salt

Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. Cover with foil and roast in a hot oven for about an hour, or until thoroughly softened. Leave to cool.
Deseed and finely chop the chillis. Remove the rosemary from the woody stalks and chop it. Finely slice the garlic. Soften these three ingredients with the olive oil on a low heat for about 5 minutes, then take off the heat and add the lemon zest. Scoop the flesh from the roasted squash and mix through the flavoured oil, add salt to taste.