Recipe: Caramelised chorizo and sweet chilli butternut squash salad

Here's the thing with cooking - if you're working with lots of different components that you like, then you're pretty much guaranteed to like the final product. That's science, that is.

But sometimes, those ingredients surprise you and do something magical in the cooking process to surpass your expectations, and that's exactly what happened here. I was just using up some bits to make a warm salad for dinner, and didn't expect it to be anything special, but it was amaaazing. The oil from the chorizo seeped into the butternut squash, giving it a smoky, spicy flavour and the sweet chilli sauce took to the edges of the chorizo, making it all sticky and almost caramelised. It was SO good. So this, really, is barely a recipe, but I reeeally want you to try it, because I think it'll blow you away too.

Chorizo and butternut squash salad

1 small butternut squash

Half a cured chorizo sausauge (about 110g)

Sweet chilli sauce (about 2 tablespoons)

1 garlic clove, sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Salad and fresh coriander, to serve

Serves 2 / 10 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per portion

1. Preheat oven to 200c / gas mark 6
2. Cube and deseed your butternut squash, pop on a baking tray along with the sliced garlic and toss with the olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper
3. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes, and chop up the chorizo while it's cooking.
4. After 15 minutes, get out the oven, flip the butternut squash and add the chorizo to the tray along with a hearty drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.
5. Back in the oven it goes for another 15-20 minutes.
6. Put together a green salad and chop up some coriander, then get the squash and chorizo out the oven, plonk it on your plate and throw the coriander over the top.

Isn't it GOOD? I can't wait to make this again. And Weight Watchers friendly, too! Hooray.