Phil Vickery's butternut squash and blue cheese tart with watercress and pine nuts

Before Halloween pumpkin fever kicks in, don’t forget its less showy little sister - the butternut squash!

Phil Vickery is in the kitchen showing us how this ideal winter vegetable can be used to whip up an easy evening meal.

Serves: 6Preparation time: 30 minutesCooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 x butternut squash, approximately 750g in weight6 medium onions, in the skin1 x 500g all butter puff pastry block250g Cropwell Bishop Stilton (or blue cheese of your choice)6 tbsp mayonnaise2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil150g watercress, roughly75g toasted pine nuts

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

• Cut the squash in half and place into a baking tray, then drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

• Add the onions in the skin.

• Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the squash is cooked and you can run a skewer through the onions with no resistance.

• Once cooked remove and cool, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C

• Next roll out the pastry into a large square and dock well with a fork.

• Transfer the pastry to the pre heated oven at 180c for 20 minutes, so the pastry is half cooked and then remove from the oven.

• Break up the cheese into a bowl and add the mayonnaise.

• Peel the squash and break into 2-3cm pieces, roughly then dot over the pastry.

• Carefully peel the onions to reveal the soft sweet flesh, then cut in half, then quarters and place over the squash.

• Dot over the blue cheese dressing all over the onions and squash, and then season well with ground black pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil.

• Place the tray back into the oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is cooked.

• Whilst that is cooking, run a knife trough the watercress.

• Remove the cooked tart from the oven and serve on a chopping board.

Sprinkle over the pine nuts and serve with the watercress.