Nigella Lawson’s Jewish identity is pretty interesting. Taking part in the third series of the BBC family-history documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are?, Lawson sought to uncover some of her family’s ancestry. She traced her ancestors to Ashkenazi Jews who originate from eastern Europe and Germany. Though both of her parents are Jewish, she was not raised in the tradition. And like most British people, she has a love of Christmas (culturally only, as Lawson is an atheist). To her credit though, Lawson has said that she has developed a distinctly “Jewish character”.

Either way, we love her recipes and even though this recipe was listed as a great Christmas or Thanksgiving dish, we think it makes an even better Passover dish. Chametz free and totally easy, Nigella’s Butternut Squash with Pecans and Blue Cheese will put you into a food coma that will make you recline even more at the seder table than you are supposed to! Thank you, Food Network.

4-pounds 8-ounces butternut squash
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 stalks fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup crumbled Roquefort or other blue cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Halve the squash, leaving the skin on, and scoop out the seeds, then cut into 1-inch cubes; you don’t need to be precise just keep the pieces uniformly small. Having trouble with this part? Just click here for a video how-to.

Put into a roasting pan with the oil and strip about 4 stalks thyme of their leaves, sprinkling over the butternut squash. If you can’t get any fresh thyme, sprinkle over dried (but honestly, fresh is best).

Roast in the oven for about 30 to 45 minutes or until tender.

Once out of the oven, remove the squash to a bowl and scatter over the pecans and crumble over the cheese tossing everything together gently with salt and pepper to taste.