Roast Kohlrabi and Butternut Squash

A roast veg side dish fitting the season

What can’t you do with kohlrabi?

Pickled, roast, raw, pureed… kohlrabi is an incredibly versatile vegetable! It adds a really lovely texture to dishes even when roasted, akin to a roast radish. A bit peppery, soft yet still crisp, it also makes a great addition to soups and stews. One day 2 of leftovers (I made quite a bit for just one person), I ended up re-heating and blending this into a pasta sauce which was next-level amazing. I often make pasta sauce from roast butternut squash, but find it quite heavy – the addition of roast kohlrabi made it a far better consistency and added a depth of flavour.

I could wax poetic for days about butternut squash – undoubtedly one of my favourite winter squashes that I could happily eat daily. Roasting is my preferred method of cooking, caramelising the edges, bringing out the sweetness and buttery texture that I’m assuming it gets its moniker from. Salads, pasta sauce, risotto, even a sandwich filling, I’ve yet to put butternut squash in something that it didn’t work in. Pairing it with roast kohlrabi was a bit of a roll of the dice, but it’s turned out beautifully – I hope you think so too!

Ingredients

Yield: 4 – 6 servings

2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
½ small butternut squash (the top part is best!) peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
sea salt

3 sprigs fresh thyme, woody stems removed
Juice of 1 lemon
5ml raw honey
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt

Preparation (about 10 minutes prep, roughly 40 minutes total including roasting time)

1. Preheat oven to 200C

2. Toss cubed kohlrabi in ½ Tbsp oil, sprinkle with sea salt and roast for 15 – 20 minutes on a lined baking sheet, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. Do the same with the butternut squash, though this is likely to take closer to 25 minutes which is why it’s best to roast them separately.

3. While the veg is roasting, whisk together thyme leaves, lemon juice, honey and salt. Once combined, whisk vigorously while slowly pouring in the oil to emulsify. Toss the dressing through the kohlrabi and squash once out of the oven.