Roasted Pumpkin Salad
Years ago I ran a very busy and successful cafe and catering business in Melbourne
We made everything on the premises and even if I do say so myself, the food was absolutely delicious!
This gorgeous salad was one of the most popular salads we made
It is so simple and easy, yet so tasty and nobody could pick the dressing!
It was super popular at Christmas time and we would have orders for several hundred kilos of it as people wanted to serve it as part of their Christmas spread.
I certainly don’t miss the days of peeling and cutting hundreds of kilos of pumpkin. Or roasting and skinning a LOT of red capsicums!
look closely and you will see that I no longer skin my pumpkin – it’s organic so I see no need!
So as my Christmas present to you, here is my roasted pumpkin salad with its (now not-so) secret dressing!
YUM!!!
- 1.6kg butternut pumpkin, deseeded, cut into 2 cm-thick and 3 cm-wide pieces
- salt and pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- 4 spring onions, green part, washed well
- ½ cup roasted capsicum* (approx 2 medium capsicums)
- ½ cup pine nuts, toasted
- Balsamic and sesame dressing
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon sesame oil
- Preheat oven to 200°C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Place pumpkin in a large bowl (you may like to do this in batches).
- Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Tip pumpkin onto trays and spread out in a single layer . .
- Place in oven and roast, turning once, for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, finely slice spring onions and dice capsicum.
- Heat a small fry pan over medium heat. Add pine nuts and a dash of oil. Cook, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes or until golden.
- Make dressing: Combine olive oil, vinegar and sesame oil in a screwtop jar.
- Secure lid and shake to combine.
- Place pumpkin on a large platter.
- Evenly sprinkle with spring onions, roasted capsicum and drizzle with dressing.
- Sprinkle pinenuts evenly over the top and serve.
Although I prefer the flavour of Jap pumpkin, the butternuts have been beautiful lately AND they hold their shape when cooked. Other pumpkins often go very mushy when cooked.
Click here to find out how to roast capsicums – or if short on time you can used the ones in the jars (but honestly they aren’t as delicious as home-roasted ones!)
cut pumpkin, toss with oil, salt and pepper, spread onto tray and bake
roast pumpkin and cover the base of a serving dish with it
sprinkle spring onions over the top
cover with roasted capsicum and drizzle with dressing
sprinkl over pinenuts and….ta da – DONE! Now it’s time to eat. Noms!
Other roasted pumpkin salad combos I love (either use the above dressing, or just olive oil and balsamic vinegar):
– baby spinach leaves with roasted pumpkin, feta and walnuts
– rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, feta and pinenuts
– baby spinach or rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, roasted capsicum, feta and pinenuts
– baby spinach or rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, roasted capsicum, roasted red onions, pumpkin seeds
– baby spinach leaves with roasted pumpkin, roasted capsicum, quinoa, feta and edamame
– baby spinach or rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, lentils and feta
– baby spinach or rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, chickpeas and feta
– baby spinach or rocket leaves with roasted pumpkin, spicy roasted chickpeas and tahini dressing
