This honey and almond Hasselback butternut recipe is basted with brown butter and adorned with roasted almonds and fried sage leaves. It’s a deliciously impressive, sweet, and savoury vegetarian centerpiece that will make a festive side dish for any roast.

Peels – South Africa’s oldest honey producer makes the most incredible range of single nectar honey along with a wide range of honey-related products. Honey is one of the top 3 most faked foods in the world and knowing that it comes from a reputable supplier protects you against this. I chose their Macadamia honey for this recipe to tie in with the almond topping.

Peel’s producers single nectar honey which means the bees foraged off one type of flower. Living in the Western Cape I eat a lot of Fynbos honey so tasting Acacia honey from Thabazimbi, Saligna honey from the Midlands, Aloe honey from Rust de Winter, and Macadamia honey from Port Edward was pure joy.

Can you make Hasselback butternut in advance?

This Hasselback butternut is a little tricky as it requires a fair bit of basting, but you can pre-make it to the first stage of roasting and then remove it and continue to roast and glaze it on the day. This is useful if you are making it for Christmas or Thanksgiving when you have a lot going on.

Perfect for Christmas gifting for any foodie. SHOP PEEL’S

How to store honey:

Keeping your honey stored properly will make it easier to handle and this is how you do it:

Store your honey in a cool dry place in a tightly sealed container and preferably in the container it was purchased in. Avoid storing your honey in any metal container as it may oxidize.

Do not store honey in the fridge. It is not necessary and makes it harder to work with as you will need to heat it to soften it.

Avoid exposing your honey to heat and moisture. So keep it in the coolest part of your pantry well-sealed. Use a dry spoon or dipper each time you take honey out of the jar.

Due to the very high sugar content, honey can be stored for an indefinite time. Pretty much forever. It might lose some of its colour over time and darken and it could become crystallized.

It is perfectly normal for good-quality honey to be thicker and cloudy. This. is called crystallization. The best way to re-liquify your honey is to place the jar in a bowl of hot water and stir it gently. Avoid placing it in a pot of boiling water on the stove or in the microwave as this can overheat it very quickly.

For more info about how to store honey click this link.

Honey & almond Hasselback butternut

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An impressive vegetarian Hasselback butternut recipe that is perfect as a festive holiday side

Author: Sam Linsell
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 6 - 8
Category: Vegetarian
Method: Roasting

Ingredients

1 Large butternut or 2 small-medium butternuts peeled, and seeds removed

Olive oil

50gms butter

10 – 15 sage leaves

6 bay leaves (optional)

½ cup Peels Macadamia honey

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp sherry vinegar (or red wine)

½ cup of roasted almonds, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

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Instructions

Halve the butternut lengthways through the middle and scoop out the seeds. I find using a wide vegetable peeler good for the skin, and an ice cream scoop does a good job of scraping out the seeds.

Rub the butternut all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay the butternut on a large baking sheet (line the base with baking paper to help prevent burning) and seal well with foil. Roast for 20 minutes.

While the butternut is roasting, melt the butter in a frying pan. Once it starts bubbling, fry the sage leaves in one or two batches until they have sizzled and are crispy. Scoop them out of the butter and drain on paper towel. Take the brown butter off the heat and set it aside.

Remove the par-roasted butternut and place cut-side down on a wooden board. Place handles of two wooden spoons down the side of the butternut and cut thin slits through the flesh. The wooden spoons help prevent your knife from cutting all the way through.

Once the butternut halves are cut into Hasselback slices, place back onto the tray with the rounded side facing upwards and brush the surface with some of the brown butter you fried the sage in. Slot a few bay leaves in the cracks if you are using these. Seal the roasting tin with the foil again, and roast for a further 20 minutes.

While the butternut is roasting for a second time, make the glaze. In a small pot add the honey, mustard, and vinegar and bring it to a boil then take it off the heat.

When the butternut has finished the second roast, remove, and baste with the rest of the butter, ensuring that it drips through all the cracks. Brush the honey glaze over and return this to the oven uncovered to roast until starting to caramelize and when it’s cooked through. The length of time this takes all depends on how big the butternut is. brush the glaze over a second time to ensure it’s all used up.

Carefully remove the Hasselback butternut from the tray using a long spatula or pastry lifter and place it on a platter to serve. Drizzle over any additional honey and sprinkle over the chopped almonds, a generous sprinkle of sea salt flakes, and the fried sage leaves.

Keywords: Hasselback, butternut, squash, recipe, Christmas, Thanksgiving, honey, almonds, sage, brown butter

*This post is proudly sponsored by Peel’s