Everything about this salad is magical! The key is to serve the pumpkin straight from the oven, with warming aromas of spice and citrus perfuming the air. It’s the perfect way to start an autumn evening.
The nutrients in pumpkin are first class. Extremely high in fiber and low in calories, pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients, including potassium, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and vitamins C and E. Pumpkins are a super foods because of their synergistic combination of carotenoids. Pumpkin contains one of the richest supplies of bio-available carotenoids known to man. Indeed, a half-cup serving of pumpkin gives you more than two times the recommended daily dietary intake of alpha-carotene and 100% of the recommended daily dietary goal of beta-carotene. Be sure to save the seeds by the way. Pumpkin seeds are nutritional powerhouses wrapped up in a very small package, with a wide variety of nutrients ranging from magnesium and manganese to copper, protein and zinc. They contain a wide array of beneficial plant compounds known as phytosterols and free-radical scavenging antioxidants.
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized pumpkin
1 butternut squash
2.5 ml ground cinnamon
2.5 ml ground nutmeg
zest of 1 orange
sea salt crystals and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil for deep frying
150 g goat’s cheese
75 g dried cranberries
75 g pumpkin seeds
Rocket leaves to garnish
Vinaigrette:
100 ml pumpkin seed oil
35 ml balsamic vinegar
juice of half a lemon
pinch of sugar
sea salt crystals and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
- With a sharp knife, slice pumpkin in half, remove the seeds with a spoon, and slice into desired wedges. Cut off the skin of the pumpkin.
- In a bowl toss together the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest with some pumpkin seed oil, season with salt and pepper then arrange on a baking tray and roast in a preheated oven (180 Celsius) for about 25 – 30 minutes.
- While the pumpkin is roasting, prepare the butternut crisps, with a peeler, peel long shards of butternut and deep fry until crispy, drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with cinnamon and sea salt.
- Whisk together all ingredients for the pumpkin seed vinaigrette.
- Toast pumpkin seeds in the oven for about 5 minutes.
- To assemble: when pumpkin is cooked through, arrange on plates, crumble a bit of goat’s cheese over, sprinkle dried cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds.
- Lastly garnish with rocket leaves, butternut squash crisps and drizzle pumpkin seed vinaigrette.
- Enjoy!!!
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