fall recipe | milkandbun

Warm butternut squash salad

This delicious warm salad is perfect for cold months. Yes, it is simple but bursting with flavour, and of course it contains the main autumn ingredient – beautiful winter squash! Slightly sweet roasted butternut squash together with salted feta and fresh spinach leaves create nice and tasty salad, perfect in its simplicity.

And don’t forget to sprinkle the salad with raw pumpkin seeds (as I did.. haha)!

Warm butternut squash salad

Time: 40min
Difficulty: very easy
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Slightly adapted from here

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm-thick slices

1 medium red onion, cut into wedges

1 orange

fresh spinach leaves, as much as you like

100-150g feta or white/Bulgarian cheese

handful of raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing*

juice of 1/2 orange

2-3 tsp white balsamic or champagne vinegar

1 tsp honey mustard

2-3 tbsp EV olive oil

freshly ground sea salt &white pepper, to taste

Method

Arrange butternut squash and onion on a baking tray, drizzle everything with olive oil, plus squash with juice of 1/2 orange. Roast in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until squash is soft.
For the dressing, in a small jar combine all ingredients and shake well. *Adjust to your taste by adding more vinegar or oil.
Arrange spinach on a serving plate, top with warm squash and onion. Sprinkle with feta and pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with dressing.

Enjoy warm salad!

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

Another Sunday, and here is another idea for Sunday Breakfast! This time it is a well-balanced, healthy and very tasty buckwheat porridge, that makes a fantastic breakfast treat. I guess many of you need something special to pull yourself out of the bed in the cold autumn mornings, and this warm and cozy porridge does help you!

I used for it buckwheat flakes mixed with some oats. Do you know, that buckwheat grain provides a very high level of protein, second highest only to oats! It makes this porridge high in energy, so it might help you to do more housework during the day or just stay in a good mood! 😉 For those of you who not especially concerned with buckwheat nutritional benefits, it is also tastes delicious and has a delightful nutty flavour. Plus, I topped the porridge with caramelized orange slices and figs, now you can imagine how divine and irresistible it was! Some chopped almonds or hazelnuts add an extra nice and crunchy note to your morning breakfast bowl!

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

Servings: 2
Time: 15mins
Difficulty: very easy
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You may drizzle the porridge with honey.

Ingredients

Porridge

100g buckwheat flakes

50-60g oatmeal

100ml water

300ml milk (I used full fat)

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp white or brown sugar (to taste)

vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

3-4 tbsp white sugar

2 large figs or 3 medium, cut into fourths

1 large orange, peeled and cut into 1cm slices

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

8-10 whole toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Method

Put the water and milk in a saucepan over a medium heat, when it just begins to boil, add buckwheat flakes, oatmeal and all other ingredients for the porridge. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low, simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the porridge is too thick add more milk or water. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave for 4-5 minutes.
Meanwhile, put a pan with sugar on a medium-high heat. Don’t stir it, allow to become lightly golden. Add figs and orange slices, caramelize for 2-3 minutes on each side. Turn the heat off. Take out figs and orange slices. Add lemon juice to the pan and stir with all sugar and juices in the pan.
Spoon the porridge into bowls and top with figs and orange slices. Pour over the sweet juice from the pan. Sprinkle with almonds.

Enjoy warm and cozy breakfast!