Oven-Roasted Pumpkin with a Crispy Apple Salad

Pumpkins are a little christmas-y aren’t they? Well, at least it’s a winter/ fall vegetable. This dish is healthy, warm and hearthy; what more could you ask for. I bought a hokkaido pumpkin at the farmers market and after that this dish was kind of randomly thrown together according to what I had in my kitchen but it has quickly become a favorite dish of mine. I love the sweetness of the baked pumpkin with the more sour and crsipy salad. Don’t get discouraged by the long list of ingredient. The only thing that takes time in this recipes is how long the pumpkin has to be baked. Everything else is easy peasy 😉

Ingredients

1/2 hokkaido pumpkin (300g)

juice form 1/4 lemon (2.5 tsp)

3/4 tsp chili, finely chopped

a few sprinkles of dried thyme

For the Salad:

2 small apples (about 85g each)

120g rocket leaves or mixed baby leaves

1 tsp dijon-mustard (6g)

up to 1 tbsp cold water

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

juice form 1/4 orange

40g shallot (1/2 onion)

2 small tbsp pumpkin seeds (16g)

60g soy yogurt (or any type of natural yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 185 degrees celcius.

De-seed the pumpkin and peel of the shell. Cut in to small boats or chunks. Place the pieces in an oven-safe dish and mix in a marinade made of 1 small tbsp water, lemon juice, chili, salt and thyme.

Bake in the oven for about 35 min.

While the pumpkin is baking prepare the salad: Cut the apples into chunks, rinse and dry the salad, peel and finely chop the shallot. Mix everything together and set aside.

Mix a dressing of mustard, water, salt and pepper, vinegar and orange juice.

Just before serving, dry-roast the pumpkin seeds on a pan until they starts to “pop”. Season with salt and pepper.

When the pumpkin has baked, arrange on two plates. Mix the salad and dressing and arrange on the plates as well. Top with a spoonfull yogurt and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.

Makes 2 servings, at 178 kcal.

Notes:

Orginally I finished of the dish with a spoonfull of yogurt on top, but I actually didn’t really like it. Along with the pumpkin it was just too sweet to my taste. I chose to add it to the recipe because I’m sure other people might like it. My mother tasted it as well and she liked it with the yogurt..

The dish is delicious on it’s own but would also be good with some whole-grain bread or chicken breast.