Roast Pumpkin Salad Recipe

This salad always reminds me of Christmas! We headed out to our first Christmas get together today and I made this to take along. It is a personal favourite of mine. I always take the dressing to add later (photographed below), so the photo above shows the salad without the dressing. I knew that I would be having too much fun to photograph food at the party, so took this shot before I left home, so you could see what this scrumptious salad looks like.

Roast Pumpkin Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1.5 – 2kg butternut pumpkin, cubed 1.5cm x 1.5cm approx
• olive oil spray
• sea salt flakes
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup shredded mint
• 30 grams fetta

Honey and Balsamic Dressing:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Place pumpkin onto trays lined with baking paper.
3. Spray lightly with olive oil and crush salt flakes over the pumpkin.
4. Cook pumpkin for at least 20 minutes, before turning. Cook for another 20 – 30 minutes, until the pumpkin is starting to brown.
5. While the pumpkin is cooking either dry fry the pine nuts or brown them on a lined tray under the grill, until they are golden. Store in an airtight container if it is a while before you will use them.
6. Remove pumpkin from oven when ready and allow to cool. (As this step can be completed ahead of time, you can place pumpkin in a container in the fridge.)
7. I prefer to shred the mint and crumble the fetta at the last minute. As such I will often cook the pumpkin the night before and just add the fetta, pine nuts and mint an hour or so before we need to eat.
8. The dressing should only be added immediately prior to serving.

Dressing:

1. In a small jar add honey, vinegar and olive oil.
2. Prior to using on the salad, with the lid on the jar shake vigorously to mix.
3. Take off lid and heat in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
4. Shake vigorously again and all ingredients should combine beautifully!

Presenting Salad:

• Arrange pumpkin neatly on a large plate. Crumble fetta, toss the mint and pine nuts across the pumpkin. Drizzle dressing across the salad and enjoy!

The Family Menu Plan For This Week

The children are doing a swimming intensive program over the next week and a half with their school. This makes them eat even more that usual, as such I have opted for meals allow for second helpings!!

Baking: White Chocolate Chip Muffins

Monday: Fried Rice

Tuesday: Pasta Bake

Wednesday: Left Overs

Thursday: Marinated Steak and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Friday: Chicken Wings, Baked Potatoes and Corn

Saturday: Tacos

Sunday: Sausages and Salad

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Tagged as: menu plan, Recipes, roast pumpkin