A few store cupboard ingredients can turn your autumnal squash into a heartening dish

While in isolation for a few days, waiting for a Covid test to come back, I was forced to eat the decorative gourds. After a couple of nights spent blazing through the store cupboard, I was in need of something that had actually seen some soil. The collection of little ochre squash I’d purchased in the local grocer the week before were really meant for making my flat feel autumnal, but suddenly they looked a lot like my only hope of an interesting dinner.

I have a complicated relationship with gourds. That is to say I don’t love them, as a rule. They’re often a bit sweet and soft and flavourless. I’d rather grate one and make a cake batter from it than have one for dinner. But I make an exception if it can be turned properly savoury with chilli or cheese, and its sweetness cut through with something sour. If treated right, a squash can be a glorious thing. I stood in front of my fridge and a plan began to form.

I halved the squash and roasted them with chilli, fennel seeds and plenty of salt. A pot of sour cream was let down with milk to make a kind of buttermilk, then mixed with Parmesan, garlic and plenty of nutmeg and baked around the squash.

I topped it all with some dried breadcrumbs found lurking at the back of the store cupboard, added more cheese and the result was the most glorious, silky gratin with a sour, garlicky kick and a bit of heat from the chilli.

You could do this with gourds of any size, roasting larger ones in wedges or even layering thin slices as you would for a dauphinoise.