After a long recovery from a broken ankle, I've finally returned to wandering around weekend farmers market and this time I found a lovely Japanese black pumpkin that I wanted to try and feature in a dish as either entree or main. The pumpkin is sliced and roasted in the oven with ras el hanout and honey, dressed with roasted pepita and macadamia for some texture, herb salad for a touch of freshness and finished with a creamy smoked yoghurt. If you can't find black pumpkin, I'm sure any other pumpkin would work as well. I've plated this as an entree but you can also do it rustic style and just pile on all the yumminess as a salad or main course.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 1 hour
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
Roasted Pumpkin
- 1 Japanese black pumepkin sliced to 2 cm thickness, skin on
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp ras el hanout
- 2 tbsp honey
Smoked Yoghurt
- 250ml Greek yoghurt
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- salt
- hickory wood chips for smoking
Pepita Crumb
- 1/3 cup pepita
- 5 macadamia nuts
Herb Salad
- 1 cup fresh parsley picked
- 1 cup fresh dill picked
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- squeeze of lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
Garnish
- rosemary flowers
- ras el hanout
- pumpkin powder
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degree. Mix the ras el hanout with olive oil and honey and rub it all over the sliced pumpkin. Place the pumpkin on a tray and bake for 20 minutes, before turning them and bake for a further 20 minutes.
2. Prepare the pepita crumb by lighted roasting the pepita and macadamia nuts in a small pan on the stove over medium heat until fragrant. Cool it down before crushing roughly using mortar and pestle. Set aside.
3. Place the yoghurt, minced garlic, lemon juice in a small bowl, season well with salt. Cover the bowl with cling film and smoke the yoghurt with a smoking gun using hickory chips until it has taken on a lovely smoky flavour. Set aside.
4. Lightly dress the fresh herbs with olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and set it aside.
5. Assemble by placing a tablespoon of the smoky yoghurt in the middle of the plate, sprinkle some ras el hanout on the yoghurt sauce, then sprinkle generously with pumpkin powder all over the plate. On a separate plate, sprinkle the pepita crumb on the roasted pumpkin, dress with fresh herbs and garnish with rosemary flower. Place the pumpkin on the plate next to the smoky yoghurt sauce. Enjoy!
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