It wasn’t the meal I intended to make but it has been a crazy weekend and, by mistake, I had put the chicken I had planned to use in the deep freeze and not the fridge. Chicken tikka will happen another time but, as I had started its preparation by straining Greek yoghurt overnight, I sought to make use of what I had.

A brilliant solution was to use the yoghurt to make a paste with the last of my homegrown beetroot.

Oven at 180°C

5-6 tbsp Greek yoghurt, strained overnight through muslin
4 medium-sized beetroot
1 red onion
Salt
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp horseradish sauce
1 butternut squash
100g quinoa.

Cook the beetroot in their skins for about an hour or until a knife goes through easily and then peel. Cut into chunks and put into a liquidiser with most if not all the strained yoghurt and blitz. Add more yoghurt if you want plus the horseradish, salt, vinegar and a teaspoon of oil and blitz briefly. Taste. Garlic might be a temptation.

Cut the squash in half lengthways, Scrape out the seeds and cut the squash into slices about 1.5 cm thick. Put into a basin and add about three tablespoons of oil and a little salt. Stir to coat the squash in oil.

Transfer to a roasting pan and roast for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the onion. Skin and halve it before cutting each half into three sections. After the squash has been in the oven for 15 minutes, add the onion and stir around so that it is coated in the oil. Return to the oven for about 15 minutes or until both squash and onion are cooked.

While the squash is roasting, prepare the quinoa by boiling it in salted water for about 15 minutes. Strain.

To serve, first put some of the beetroot paste on the dish, then add the roasted vegetables (if you want to skin the squash, do it carefully at this stage with a sharp knife). Lastly, sprinkle over the quinoa.

Had they been available, some parsley could have been sprinkled over and cashews put in the roasting pan for the last five minutes of cooking.

Serve warm.