Halloween Squash Souffle

Earlier this summer I randomly met the talented Kimberli Mackay. She is a milliner, cook, gardener and has a really informative blog called The Mackay Way, quite the renaissance gal. I love that there are so many interesting people in our town.

Last week we managed to get together for an Ottolenghi-inspired cookathon that involved making three dishes. These included a spooktacular soufflé, from the book, Plenty, accompanied by plenty of chopping, cooking, talking and, of course, eating in my kitchen.

Kimberli chopping herbs

I’ve had Yotam Ottolenghi‘s book Plenty for a while but have not got around to trying much from it. The book is beautifully shot and is full of tempting vegetable dishes. The recipes are predominantly middle Eastern combined with Mediterranean flavors – spicy, bold and fresh – guaranteed to whip your taste buds into a frenzy. He likes “noisy” flavors, such as lemon and chilli, which are right up my alley. So we meddled, muddled and adapted Yotam’s recipes to suit what we had available in the fridge and the garden.

As it is mid-October we just had to try the Halloween soufflé (read on for the recipe). I felt braver trying a soufflé with company as they can be daunting. I will have to make sure Kimberli is over next time I cook soufflés.

Not so scary Halloween souffles

We also made farro and roasted pepper salad. Farro is the Italian name for an old wheat variety similar to spelt or emmer. It has a delicious nutty flavor that supports the strong flavors of the oregano, paprika, oregano, feta, spring onions and garlic in this robust salad.