I got the HFH River Cottage Veg cookbook for my birthday, and was quite keen to try it out. Unfortunately, there is a strong anti-cheese movement present in the household, and as a lot of the recipes include cheese, these are off limits. Anyway, this one caught my eye the most and I just didn’t add the cheese in at the end. It’s based on the the Spelt salad with squash and fennel HFH recipe.

I liked the idea of using the fennel fronds as a garnish and roasted fennel tastes great anyway. A good veggie dish, for sure.

Fennel & Squash Salad with Pearl Barley (serves 4)

1 small butternut squash (or 4xmedium carrots)

2 Fennel bulbs (fronds removed & reserved)

2 garlic cloves

100g pearl barley

Handful of parsley

Glug of olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Juice of half a lemon

20g grated parmesan or other hard cheese

Start cooking the pearl barley as per instructions and put the oven on at 200 degrees C (gas mk 5). Chop the squash or carrots into 1.5cm chunks and roast with the olive oil in a big roasting tin for about 15 minutes. Whilst the squash is cooking, chop the fennel into 8 wedges per bulb and finely slice the garlic. Once the squash has been in for 15mins, add the fennel and garlic, mix around thoroughly then put back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Drain the pearl barley and then once the veg have finished roasting, mix all together in a bowl, with the lemon juice, salt & pepper, parsley, reserved fennel fronds and cheese. Serve.