Jamie Oliver's Christmas cheesy veg-stuffed squash recipe will impress all the family

Jamie Oliver's vegetarian showstopper is simply a beauteous squash that is stuffed with food and leek condiment and tin beryllium enjoyed by each the household connected Christmas Day

Jamie Oliver has whipped up a mouth-watering vegetarian stuffed squash that's bursting with food and promises to beryllium a deed astatine Christmas dinner.

Whether you're looking to swap retired the turkey for non-meat eaters oregon conscionable privation an other peculiar side, Jamie's got you covered with this "spectacular" and "utterly delicious" dish. The personage cook is connected a ngo to enactment seasonal squash successful the spotlight.

He's described it arsenic a "a beauteous spectacular happening that tin beryllium served alongside Christmas dinner oregon a Sunday roast. This vegetarian showstopper volition rival the turkey for abstraction connected your Christmas plate."

The "gorgeous" cheesy delight doubles arsenic an edible bowl, filled to the brim with a elemental yet scrumptious food béchamel sauce, leeks, and a crispy topping for that other crunch. Plus, Jamie's made definite you tin prep this quality up to 2 days up of the large day, giving you much clip to bask the festivities.

Don't fret implicit which squash to pick; Jamie opts for a French variety, but acorn, cricket ball, and butternut are each large choices disposable astatine your section supermarket, deli, oregon farmer's market. This recipe, featured connected C4's Jamie's Christmas Shortcuts series, is cleanable for serving astir 10 guests.

Ingredients you volition need:

• One ample squash
• Olive oil
• 2 knobs of butter
• Sea brackish and achromatic pepper
• Half a grated nutmeg
• 3 ample leeks with outer leaves removed
• 2 cloves of ail sliced
• Sprig of thyme
• One heaped tablespoonful of plain flour (gluten escaped is fine)
• 500ml of milk
• Grater afloat of cheddar, reddish leicester oregon gruyere - oregon each three!
• 100g breadcrumbs
• A fewer crumbled walnuts

Here's however to marque Jamie's cheesy veg-stuffed squash:

With a crisp knife, region the apical of the squash to uncover the centre, which volition service arsenic a vessel for the cheesy leek sauce. Scoop retired the seeds with a spoon - you tin lavation and roast them with a spot of spice if you like, oregon prevention them for planting adjacent year.

Don't fret astir immoderate stringy bits near behind, they're packed with flavour. Drizzle olive lipid astir the rim and wrong of the squash, past sprinkle successful immoderate oversea salt, achromatic pepper, and nutmeg.

Place it successful a snug crockery and popular it into a preheated oven astatine 180C / 350F for 1 and a fractional hours. Split the leeks lengthwise and rinse from the stalk extremity to region immoderate grit.

Any residual h2o volition assistance them steam earlier frying. Finely chop the greenish ends into 4th centimetre pieces, and arsenic you get to the whiter stalk, chopped into centimetre chunks.

In a ample pan, vigor the food and olive lipid connected precocious until bubbling, past adhd the garlic, thyme, and the darker parts of the leeks archetypal arsenic they are tougher. Season with brackish and pepper, past adhd the whiter parts of the leeks.

Pop a lid connected the frying cookware and trim to a mean heat, allowing it to navigator for astir 30 minutes - this process volition tenderise the leeks. Remember to disturbance occasionally and adhd tiny amounts of water.

Once the leeks are soft, adhd the flour which volition thicken with the lipid and butter, springiness it a mix, past determination successful the beverage and premix again. Add the food to the achromatic sauce, crook disconnected the vigor and harvester everything together.

For the crunchy topping, usage your fingers to premix the walnuts into the breadcrumbs, adding a spot of olive lipid and salt. Take the cooked pumpkin retired of the oven and spoon immoderate of the broth that's formed successful the centre of the squash into your condiment and past determination the substance into the hole, don't fret if it spills implicit the borderline a bit.

Sprinkle the crunchy topping connected apical of the sauce. If you're preparing earlier Christmas Day, fto it chill and past store successful a acold place.

When you're acceptable to devour it, popular it successful the oven for astir 20 minutes oregon until golden. Serve connected a platter oregon barroom basal and portion oregon scoop retired the borderline of the pumpkin on with the condiment from the middle.