Squash, red onion and butter bean roast

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5.

Halve the squash. Peel it and scoop out the seeds, then cut the flesh into 3–4cm chunks. Put these in a large roasting tin.

Peel the onions. Leaving the root intact so that the layers stay together, slice them top-to-toe into slim wedges, about 2cm thick at the outer edge. Add to the squash.

Peel all the garlic cloves and add these too (or, if you’re in a hurry, just separate the cloves and give them a quick bash with the flat of a knife).

Add salt and pepper and the oil to the veg and mix well together. Cover the tin with foil and roast for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, add the butter beans and stir to mix with the veg. Return the tin to the oven, uncovered this time, for a further 10–15 minutes or until all the veg start to take on some golden brown colour.

Add the chopped sage to the hot veg and stir well. Serve with some steamed greens or a leafy green salad on the side.

Potato, parsnip, apple and bean roast

In place of the squash, use a 50:50 mixture of potatoes and parsnips or celeriac, peeled and cut into roughly 3cm chunks. After their initial 45 minutes’ cooking with the onions and garlic, add 2 cored and roughly chunked-up eating apples and 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, along with the beans before the final 10–15 minutes’ roasting. Finish with a scattering of toasted hazelnuts if you like.

Soup

Any significant leftovers (of either roast) can be whizzed up with a little stock to make a hearty soup (squeeze unpeeled garlic cloves out of their skins before puréeing).