Butternut Squash stuffed with Pesto Black Rice

Fill butternut squash halves with hazelnut pesto flavoured forbidden black rice and Feta for a quick, healthy and delicious weeknight meal. It's easy to adapt and alter the stuffing (quinoa, buckwheat, spelt, or bulgur) for the squash, depending on what you have on hand and what you fancy. Homemade pesto is fresher and infinitely more delicious, but if you are in a hurry, store-bought one will work just fine.

	Parsley Hazelnut Pesto
1 / 650-750 g Butternut squash, halved lengthways, seeds removed 1 clove Garlic, crushed 1 tsp Chilli flakes Olive oil Salt flakes Black pepper, crushed 100 g Black rice 1 stalk Spring onion, chopped 80 g Feta, crumbled 50 g Hazelnuts, toasted	40 g Parsley, roughly chopped, plus extra to sprinkle 20 g Basil, plus extra to garnish 60 g Hazelnuts, toasted 50 g Parmesan, grated 1 clove Garlic, crushed Grated zest and juice 1 lemon, plus extra to serve 80 ml Extra-virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 220C/430F. Put the halved butternut squashes on a baking sheet, cut-side up, and rub the cut sides with the crushed garlic, chilli flakes and a little olive oil. Season with salt flakes and freshly crushed black pepper, then roast for 40-50 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, make the pesto. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz to make a rough paste. Season, if you like, with salt and pepper.
Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and add the rice. Simmer for 20 minutes until just tender but still with some bite left. Drain well and transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in the chopped spring onion and pesto. Season to taste.
Divide the pesto rice among the 2 cavities of the butternut squash halves. Sprinkle over the feta, then return the filled squash to the oven for another 10 minutes until the cheese has turned golden and everything is piping hot.
Serve sprinkled with the toasted hazelnuts, chilli flakes, parsley and a squeeze of lemon.