Spiced tomato, squash and creamed kale gratin

Ingredients

60ml olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large red pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm wide strips
500g tomatoes, peeled & roughly chopped
1 large bayleaf
1 generous sprig rosemary
400g squash, peeled, seeded and cut into sheets about the depth of a pound coin
Lemon, juice and zest
Small pinch chilli flakes or powder (optional)
15ml olive oil
400g kale, tough stalks removed, and leaves shredded
15g butter
80ml double cream
80g goats cheese
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
50g bread crumbs or panko
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180/gas5. Start by making the tomato and pepper stew. In a large heavy based pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.

2. Add another 2 spoonful’s of oil and the red pepper, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pepper is tender. Now add the garlic, cook for a minute before stirring in the tomatoes, bay and rosemary and season well. Cook down for 10 minutes, simmering to a nice rich tomato sauce. Lift out herbs and season to taste. Set aside to cook the squash and kale.

3. Blanch the squash then the kale in a pan of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain quickly and refresh the kale under cold running water to prevent it cooking further. Strain it and squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible. Once the squash has cooled a bit, season with lemon zest, juice, chilli flakes, olive oil and salt.

4. Then finish the kale. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the kale and season with pepper. Sauté for a couple of minutes until heated through. Stir in the cream and allow to bubble down and reduce, crumble the goats cheese and mix thoroughly, season to taste.

5. Spoon 1/2 the mixture into a 10" diameter baking dish. Top with half the squash slices and cover with half the creamed kale. Repeat, finishing with the last of the creamed kale. Toss crumbs and parmesan together and scatter evenly over the top.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until topping is crisp and vegetables are piping hot. Serve hot or at room temperature.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.