This recipe started out as squash, ricotta and sage pasta bake – a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website. I thought this sounded really tasty, but the comments at the bottom of the page were pretty mixed and many people had added their own ingredients! So I’ve done that, but a bit more radically I suppose! You could leave out the chicken for a veggie dish. This serves 4 people.

Ingredients

1 squash, weighing about 1kg, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
200ml tub crème fraîche
50g parmesan, finely grated
250g tub ricotta
Small bunch of sage leaves, chopped
2 chicken breasts, diced
Nutmeg
Chilli flakes (as generous as you want to be with these!)
A handful of mushrooms
A handful of pine nuts
1 red onion, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
Pasta (shape of your choice – allow 50g per person)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Toss the squash together with the olive oil in a roasting tin. Roast the squash for 30 mins until soft and golden. While the squash is roasting, mix the crème fraîche and ricotta with half the Parmesan, then add the sage and the chilli flakes.Mix well and set aside.

2. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the chicken. Chop the onion and add to the pan, cooking until softened. Add the mushrooms and season.

3. Put the pasta on to boil. Remove the squash from the oven and add to the pan along with the pine nuts, mixing well.

4. Just before the pasta has cooked, add the ricotta mixture to the chicken and add a good grating of nutmeg. Mix well. Drain the pasta and combine all the ingredients. Put it in a dish and cover with the rest of the parmesan.

5. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the parmesan is crisp and golden. Serve with some salad and enjoy!