I bought one of those big round pumpkin-type winter squashes the other day. It’s proved very handy at lunch-times, provided I remember to stick a piece in the oven half-an-hour before I want to eat.

Here’s what I do: cut a segment from the squash, scoop out the seeds, scatter some stuff over it (I’ve been using a few olives, a bulb of garlic, some cubes of feta cheese, maybe a few nuts, I think I’m gonna try some chilli sauce) then stick it on a baking tray, drizzle some oil over and put it in the oven. Then 30 minutes later I take it out, put it on a plate, mash the topping into the squash (or should that be squash the topping into a mash?) and eat the lot of it (once it’s cooled a little). You can even eat the skin - although it’s a little tougher than the rest, it’s quite palatable after a while in the oven.

Not exactly haute cuisine, but it tastes bloody nice, feels like a proper meal, and is easier to cook than pretty much anything else I can imagine.