Honeynut Squash Dip with Spiced Chickpeas
Creamy, dreamy, and dressed for a party—plus, it's vegan.
Welcome to the first From Head to Table newsletter! I am happy beyond words you are here. So let’s get right into it! And the inaugural recipe is—drumroll, please!—Honeynut Squash Dip with Spiced Chickpeas. This plant-based dip comes from my “Pitch and Release” files. These recipes are ones I’ve pitched multiple times over the years, but haven’t gotten any bites from various publications. Sometimes I look at old pitch decks and say to myself, “What was I thinking with that recipe concept?” and, other times, a concept is so freakin’ swoonworthy it deserves to be developed. This is one of those recipes.
Honeynut Squash Dip with Spiced Chickpeas
Honeynut squash may look like a baby butternut, but it has so much more going on. The brainchild of Dan Barber and Michael Mazourek, these petite squash have a ton of natural sweetness—think maple, brown sugar, and golden syrup—that only becomes more concentrated when roasted. Here, the cooked honeynut is combined with part of a can of chickpeas, a couple splashes of aquafaba, tahini, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and a kiss of Kashmiri chillies. When blended, the dip becomes silky and luscious with a lighter, yet sumptuous mouth feel (it’s such a satisfying texture for being vegan). The rest of the chickpeas are frizzled in olive oil with more garlic, cumin, coriander, ajwain, and smoked chilli powder. Serve with pita chips, pita bread, or naan.
Serves 4 to 8
INGREDIENTS
One 1- to 1¼-pound honeynut squash
2 tablespoons, plus ½ cup, extra virgin olive oil
2½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal or 1¼ teaspoons Morton’s kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
One 15-ounce can chickpeas, undrained
¼ cup tahini
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
1½ teaspoons whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
Pinch whole ajwain seeds (optional)
½ teaspoon Sirārakhong Hāthei chilli powder or smoked paprika
¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro
Flaky sea salt
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cover a quarter sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Slice the stalk off the top of one 1- to 1¼-pound honeynut squash and a small slice off the bottom so it sits upright, then slice the squash down the center lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape the seeds and membranes out of each half and discard the innards.
Place the cut squash on the foil-lined baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, making sure to rub it all over both sides of the squash. Season both sides with 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal or ½ teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Place cut side-down and bake until cooked through and easily pierced with a paring knife, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, wrap the foil around the squash and allow to sit for 20 minutes (this will get the squash all steamy, making the skin easier to peel off). Using your fingers or a spoon, peel off the skin, making sure to scrape as much of the roasted squash off as possible. (This should yield about 1½ cups of roasted squash.)
Reserve ½ cup aquafaba (the bean liquid) from one 15-ounce can of chickpeas and drain the remaining beans well. Place 1 cup chickpeas, reserving the rest, in a glass measuring cup or microwave safe container along with ¼ cup aquafaba. Microwave until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.
Place the warmed chickpeas and aquafaba in a blender along with the roasted squash, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup tahini, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 garlic clove, ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder, and 1½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal or ¾ teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt. Blend until smooth. Taste and add the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus salt to taste, if needed (sometimes the dip needs a good amount of salt, but this is really up to personal preferences!). If the dip is a little too thick, add an additional tablespoon or two of aquafaba and blend until it reaches the right consistency. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl and set aside.
Gently smash the remaining 2 garlic cloves with the side of a knife. Heat the remaining ¼ cup olive oil in a tadka spoon or small skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining drained chickpeas and cook, swirling the pan occasionally and adding the smashed garlic halfway through, until the beans’ skins start to blister and turn light golden, 5 to 6 minutes (Be careful—sometimes the chickpeas like to pop!). While the chickpeas are crisping, place 1½ teaspoons coriander seeds and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds in a spice grinder, and pulse into a coarse powder. Add the ground spices and a tiny pinch of ajwain seeds, if using, to the chickpeas during the last 1 minute of cooking.
Turn off the heat and stir in ½ teaspoon Sirārakhong Hāthei chilli powder or smoked paprika and the remaining ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal or ¼ teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt. To finish, swoosh the dip around the serving bowl into an artful, even-ish layer and spoon over the spiced chickpeas and any leftover infused olive oil. Garnish with ¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro, a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, and a little extra Sirārakhong Hāthei chilli powder or smoked paprika, if desired.
Make ahead: The dip can be made a couple days in advance. Refrigerate the dip and the remaining chickpeas, then just fry off the chickpeas and garnish before serving.
No honeynut, no problem: If you don’t have access to honeynut squash, you can use a small butternut squash (I find the smaller ones have less water content)—just make sure you have about 1½ cups total of roasted squash.
Cheese, please: If you want to add a briny pop of flavor, garnish the dip with some crumbled feta. The salty cheese is a great foil for the sweetness of the squash.
THE GREENEST TIME OF THE YEAR
October and November mean olive harvest time—at least in the Northern hemisphere—which means olio nuovo szn is upon us! But, what is olio nuovo and how is it different from regular ol’ EVOO? Olio nuovi (nuovi = plural—uno nuovo, due nuovi!) is the first olive oil of the season. This oil is at its freshest and most vibrant right now. The rest of the 2022 harvest will be milled and racked (this allows unwanted sediments to settle out) for a couple months until it’s bottled and makes its way to a grocery shelf near you.
While Italy offers amazing new or first harvest oils, there are also talented olive oil makers stateside in California. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of tasting Séka Hills olio nuovo ONE day after pressing—it was layered and kicking with notes of green almond, artichokes, and white pepper. Another great California new oil available for purchase online is Fat Gold (plus the packaging is just so damn pretty—hello, gifting!). The Fat Gold olive oils are crafted with a blend of olives that elicits bold, peppery, in-your-face-in-a-good-way flavor.
What’s the best way to use olio nuovo? This isn’t the oil I reach for when sautéing, it’s what I drizzle over everything this time of year. My favorite way to enjoy it is Italian fettunta—toast a thick slice of crusty bread, rub with a garlic clove, drench in olio nuovo, and finish with some flaky salt.
ICYMI, here are some of my latest and all-time fav seasonal recipes from around the interwebs:
Green Beans with Kimchi Vinaigrette & Frizzled Green Onions (Lettuce Grow)
Spiced Apple Galette (Diaspora Co.)
Rice Pilaf with Lemony Brown-Butter Mushrooms (Bon Appétit)
And, that’s a wrap on my first newsletter! If you made it this far, THANK YOU. There is so much more deliciousness to come! I hope the squash dip makes an appearance on your holiday table this season—it’s just so good. If it does, don’t forget to tag me @fromheadtotable on Instagram. And, if you have any cooking questions, my DMs are always open—happy cooking!