Roast Pumpkin with Feta and Oregano
Perfect for using up your Halloween pumpkins, this delicious vegetarian dish has a wonderful balance of flavour with the sweet roasted pumpkin and the salty feta.
Introduction
Pumpkins are the kings of the autumn vegetables. This colourful salad recipe from the Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen cookbook is the perfect balance of sweet and salty and makes a wonderful vegetarian dish. Look out for culinary pumpkins (as they are sometimes called in supermarkets) or certain varieties of squash as the flesh has an even more dense and sweet flavour.
Ingredients
| 2 | small pumpkins or squashes such as kabocha, onion, acorn or butternut, 1–1.5kg in total |
| olive oil, for drizzling | |
| 1 | bulb of garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled |
| 1 tsp | crushed dried chilli |
| picked leaves from 4–5 sprigs of fresh oregano | |
| 150g | feta cheese, crumbled |
| 50g | walnut halves |
| 100g | salad leaves |
| For the dressing: | |
| 2 tbsp | sherry vinegar |
| pinch of caster sugar | |
| 6 tbsp | extra-virgin olive oil |
| salt and black pepper |
Method
1. Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Cut the pumpkins or squashes in half and remove the seeds and fibres, then cut into wedges (you can peel the pumpkins or squashes first if you want, although the roasted skins have loads of flavor and give good texture to the salad). Tip into a roasting tin and add a little olive oil, the unpeeled garlic cloves, chilli flakes and oregano. Season well with salt and pepper. Tumble around so everything is coated with seasoned oil, then place in the heated oven and roast for about 30 minutes until tender.
2. Meanwhile, make a dressing by whisking the sherry vinegar with the sugar and some salt and pepper, then whisking in the extra-virgin olive oil.
3. When the pumpkin is cooked, drizzle the dressing over the wedges. Spoon onto a serving plate. Add the feta, walnuts and salad leaves, and toss together, then serve.
