Warm squash and potato salad with crispy onions, chestnuts and peas recipe

This warm squash and potato salad with crispy onions, chestnuts and peas makes the most of autumnal ingredients and combines a really punchy dressing with gorgeous seasonal veg. Serve it all up inside a squash if you want an impressive dinner party centrepiece, you could even make the hollowed out squash so the whole thing is edible. We think this earthy side dish is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween or Christmas and makes a delicious accompaniment to meat like ham, turkey or chicken.

Ingredients

• 800g salad potatoes
• 1 small squash/pumpkin such as acorn or similar (about 400g)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 10-12 cooked peeled chestnuts
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1-2 tbsp yellow mustard, we used French's
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar
• 1 small bunch chives finely
• ¼ bunch chopped parsley
• 2 heaped tbsp chopped cornichons
• 5 tablespoons crispy fried onions, we used French's
• 6 eggs, boiled for 10 minutes
• 50g pumpkin seeds - toasted
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190c.
2. Peel the squash, halve it and remove the seeds, dice into bite-size chunks, or the same as your potatoes. Coat in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper, roast in the oven until tender and lightly golden but not mushy.
3. Quarter the chestnuts and mix through the squash/pumpkin whilst still warm.
4. Wash the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain and allow to cool. If the potatoes are large, halve or quarter them into bite sized pieces. Mix with the squash and chestnuts.
5. Peel the eggs and separate the yolks and whites, break up the yolks with a fork or on a small grater.
6. Add the peas and crumbled yolks to the potatoes and squash mix and fold the lot to mix evenly.
7. In a bowl, whisk together the mayo, vinegar, mustard, and olive oil and mix with the potatoes and peas, parsley, and cornichons.
8. Taste and season to your liking with salt and pepper. Place in your serving bowl and garnish with the crispy onions, crumbled cooked chestnuts, toasted pumpkin seeds and chopped chives.