Warm Roast Pumpkin Salad

bluemoon downunder's Note:

Looking for Australian recipes for the Zaar World Tour 2005? Look no further! This is innovative Australian cuisine at its best: a most unusual and absolutely delicious-sounding recipe which I have adapted just slightly from a book I HAD TO BUY when I saw it today: 'Green: modern vegetarian recipes' by Australian cook Flip Shelton. As Flip says of this recipe you really can “brighten the darkest winter days with this warm, colourful salad”.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 55 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 600 g butternut pumpkin
• 4 small beetroots
• 1 brown onions (Australian) or 1 yellow onion (American)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste'
• 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• baby spinach leaves, well washed
• 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar or 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6.
2. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper, peel the pumpkin, beetroot and onion and cut into wedges.
3. Mix together the oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl until they are well-combined. Toss in the pumpkin, beetroot and onion and stir until the vegetables are well-coated.
4. Spread the vegetables on the baking tray and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until the pumpkin starts to brown.
5. Place the pepitas in a dry non-stick pan and place in the oven for a couple of minutes, stirring, until the seeds start to pop and brown.
6. Combine the roasted vegetables, pepitas and spinach in a large bowl and drizzle with the raspberry vinegar.
7. Serve warm.

Reviews

[Karen Elizabeth]

Extremely easy, I couldn't get baby spinach leaves, so had to go with shredded spinach. And I used roasted sunflower seeds. but it did give me a chance to use the unopened bottle of raspberry vinegar I had brought back from Scotland! I would happily roast these veg again, without worrying about the spinach, it was a lovely combo. I loved the beetroot in particular. I served this at a Sunday lunch with friends, well received! Thanks, Bluemoon!

[justcallmetoni]

We're at the point in the season where good baby spinach is hard to find and costs more than filet mignon. So I made mine with watercress - a very different flavor - but I loved the peppery contrast the greens gave to the sweetness of the roasted vegetables. I used red wine vinegar as I wasn't sure the raspberry would work as nicely without the spinach. Next time, thinking about roasting the garlic with the beets and squash. Thanks bluemoon.

[currybunny]

OMG, this is truly an outstanding salad! One of those recipes where I knew I would love it just looking at the ingredients - having said that, I left out the beetroot as we're not fans. I doubled the garlic and the pumpkin seeds and DH claims this is the best salad he's ever eaten! Thank you so much for posting this yummy treat, I can't wait to make again!