Roasted Honeynut Squash with Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas, Fregola and Tahini-Maple Dressing

This is really a very simple (and delicious) recipe, so don’t be swayed by the length of the directions – it’s just me nudging you to notch up your roasted vegetable game a bit.

I call for roasting the honeynut squash, the cauliflower florets, and the chickpeas on two or three sheet pans (rather than one) for a few reasons. If you crowd too many vegetables on one sheet pan, they will let off too much moisture and steam each other rather than roasting. Your cauliflower and chickpeas definitely benefit from being spread out to get the best chance at crispness and browning. Also, the ideal cooking times on the cauliflower and chickpeas are likely to be a little shorter than the squash. What I want you to do is pay attention to doneness clues, rather than time, and remove the vegetables and chickpeas when they look, feel, and smell right to you!

The tasty tahini-lemon-maple-soy sauce is a cinch to make. And I’ve introduced one of my favorite “stuffing” ingredients – fregola – to turn this into a satisfying one-dish vegetarian meal. Read more on fregola and Israeli (pearl) couscous below after the recipe.

One more tip: Cut your cauliflower florets so that each one has a flat side. When you go to arrange the cauliflower on the sheet pan, put the florets flat-side down and you will have more surface area for browning.

Makes 4 side-dish servings or 2 main-dish servings

For the vegetables:

• 2 medium honeynut squash, cut in half, seeds scraped out
• ½ large head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into medium florets (each with one flat side)
• ½ can chickpeas (about a scant cup), drained and rinsed (from a 15.5-ounce can)
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt

For the filling:

• 1 ¾ or 2 cups cooked fregola* or Israeli couscous (start with about a scant cup dry)
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives or a small amount of chopped cilantro

For the sauce:

• 3 tablespoons smooth tahini (well-whisked, I like Soom brand)
• Juice from 1 large lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon sesame oil

Roast the Vegetables:

1. Heat the oven to 425º. Arrange two oven racks equally spaced apart. Cover two large (or one large and two smaller) heavy-duty rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Drizzle up to 1 tablespoon oil on the larger sheet pan and arrange the honeynut squash halves, cut-side up. Season the squash with salt and drizzle them with up to 1 more tablespoon oil. Flip the squash halves over so that they are cut-side down and use a pastry brush or your fingers to brush or rub the skin side of the squash thoroughly with oil.
3. Toss the cauliflower florets with 2 tablespoons oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Toss the chickpeas with 1 tablespoon oil and a few pinches of salt. Arrange the florets and the chickpeas (separately) on either side of the other large sheet pan or on the two smaller sheet pans.
4. Transfer the sheet pans to the oven. Ideally put the squash on the lower rack and the cauliflower and chickpeas on the higher rack. Set a timer for 25 to 30 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs.
5. When the timer goes off, check the doneness of the chickpeas (they should be browned and shrunken) and the cauliflower (it should have deep browning in many spots and especially on the bottom). If necessary, cook for another 5 minutes and remove from the oven. (If your cauliflower and chickpeas are on separate baking sheets, the chickpeas might want to come out before the cauliflower.)
6. Continue to cook the squash for another 5 to 10 minutes (for a total of 35 to 40 minutes) and remove from the oven. The juices from the squash will have begun to caramelize on the sheet pan but shouldn’t be burning. The squash skin will be darkened and the flesh will feel soft.

Cook the Fregola, Make the Sauce:

1. While the vegetables cook, cook the fregola or couscous if you haven’t already. Drain well and let cool slightly.  
2. Make the sauce. Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, tamari, maple syrup and sesame oil. Whisk well until emulsified. Taste and adjust the sauce by adding more of any of the ingredients if you like. If the sauce sits for a bit, you may need to add a little warm water and whisk it again to loosen up.

Assemble the Squash

1. Put the fregola or couscous in a bowl and season well with salt. Drizzle a little (less than 1 tablespoon) of the sauce over and toss well. Add the roasted cauliflower to the bowl, drizzle on a little more sauce, and toss gently.
2. Using a thin spatula, gently flip the squash halves over and transfer to a serving platter or individual plates; drizzle a little sauce over each half. Pile the fregola-cauliflower mixture on top, dividing evenly among the four squashes. Sprinkle the chickpeas over all, drizzle on the remaining sauce (or as much as you like), and garnish with the chives. Serve warm.

Fregola vs. Israeli (Pearl) Couscous

These delightful quick-cooking balls of pasta arose from different cultures in different eras, and neither is truly couscous.

Fregola originated in 14^th century Sardinia, where it was traditionally made by hand rolling semolina dough in a terracotta bowl. Today it is extruded through brass dies that leave the surface rough for sauces to cling to. Fregola is always toasted, so you will see different hues of brown and blonde in one bag. That toasting gives it a deep flavor that I enjoy. I cook fregola in the traditional pasta-cooking way (a pot of salted boiling water), and I find that it plumps up in volume and has a more (pleasantly) toothsome texture than Israeli couscous. Find fregola where Italian specialty groceries are sold. Look for Fregula Sarda or Fregula Tostata on the label.

Israeli (or pearl) couscous (also called ptitim) is a much more recent invention, created in the 1950s in Israel during a time when rice was in short supply and a cheap staple was needed to feed a lot of people. It is also made from hard wheat and extruded, though it has a smoother surface and is slightly smaller than fregola. Israeli couscous is also lightly toasted (very lightly, depending on the brand), so ideally at home you would also toast it in a dry skillet or brown it in a little fat before cooking it in liquid. I usually cook Israeli couscous using a traditional pilaf method, which brings in a little flavor and cooks the couscous to a perfect doneness.

Both fregola and Israeli couscous can be added to soups (they’ll need about 10 minutes to cook through), but know that they will plump up quite a bit overnight in any leftover soup because they will continue to absorb liquid.