Warm Squash and Chickpea Salad

I love the way that some recipes make their way around the blogosphere, popping up on different blogs. I’m not talking about widespread phenomena like the No-Knead bread… I mean the things that you didn’t even notice until suddenly you’ve bookmarked the recipe on three different blogs and you realize that they’re all the same thing.

That’s what happened to me with this chickpea and squash salad, which I originally found on Orangette‘s website and later tagged on How the Cookie Crumbles. When I saw that the same recipe (well… similar) had caught my eye twice, and especially considering the plethora of squash that is in season now, I decided I had to bump this recipe to the top of my “to-make” list.

Both Molly and Bridget used butternut squash, but at my supermarket, all I could find was potimarron, which I have found translated as Hokkaido squash, chestnut squash and acorn squash. It’s a bit like a pumpkin but with a chestnutty flavor (thus the marron, which in French means chestnut.) I had never cooked with this squash before, but I absolutely love it. Aside from the taste, which is much sweeter than pumpkin, and the texture, which is creamy and not as stringy as other gourds I’ve seen… you don’t have to peel it! (At least not the younger specimens.) The skin is thin enough that a good scrubbing with soap and water is all you need before you cut this up, remove the seeds (which taste just like pumpkin seeds when roasted) and cook it.

I used half of it in this recipe and the other half in a recipe for pasta with pumpkin that I’ll post soon. For now, I’ll just post my version of this salad, which uses a different squash and peanut butter instead of tahini, but is absolutely delicious.

Squash and Chickpea Salad (adapted from Orangette and How the Cookie Crumbles)

1 medium potirron, cut into chunks
1 medium garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 onion, frenched
juice of one lime
1 Tbsp. chunky peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix the pumpkin, garlic, olive oil onion and salt in a baking dish. Bake until the squash is softened, about 30 minutes. Add the chickpeas and dressing and toss well. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, until chickpeas are warm.