Sundays lately have become pig entertainment days, meaning for the past 5 weeks, every Sunday we have had a different bunch of people over for lunch who have been dying to meet our new family members, which in turn, means Sunday mornings have been spent in the kitchen. (lucky I love cooking).
This Sunday we had my cousin and his wife over, as well as some of their best friends who have recently moved in with them. I whipped out a slow cooked lamb shoulder with some hummus, feta, coriander and pomegranate, some crunchy smashed potatoes, and this salad, which is always scoffed by everyone every-time I make it. Its not your traditional green salad, but it works perfectly as a side for roasts or any BBQ - and everyone always asks for the recipe once they've had it.
Its a Yotam Ottolenghi number, aka, the god of produce, which means its filled with beautiful fresh ingredients and the flavours are strong and delicious. I think my dad was the first one to make it in our family, and its made an appearance at many a lunches since.
Do yourself a favour and trott this one out next time your asked to bring a plate, you'll be the talk of the BBQ ;), xx
BUTTERNUT PUMPKIN WITH GINGER TOMATOES AND LIME YOGHURT RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 butternut pumpkin, unpeeled, halved lengthways, seeds removed, then cut widthways into 2.5cm-wide slices
60ml olive oil
6 large plum tomatoes, halved
3cm piece of ginger (15g), finely grated
1 red chilli, deseeded, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I use about 5, because garlic is the holy grail)
30g brown sugar
5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
30g cashews, toasted, roughly chopped
10g crispy shallots
LIME YOGHURT
120g Greek-style yoghurt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Grated zest of 1/2 lime, plus 1&1/2 tsp juice
METHOD
Preheat oven to 240°C.
Mix pumpkin with 2 tbs oil, 2 tsp coarse sea salt and a good grind of black pepper. Spread out on large, paper-lined tray and roast for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
Reduce oven to 170°C.
Place the tomato halves on a paper-lined baking tray, skin-side down. Sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt, drizzle with 1 tbs oil and cook 80 minutes, until softened.
Place the ginger, chilli, garlic, sugar and ¼ tsp salt in a bowl. Mix to form a paste, then spoon on top of tomatoes. Cook 40 minutes, until caramelised, and set aside. (a little sneaky tip, because im time poor, I usually just whack the paste straight onto the tomatoes and bake them along with the pumpkin... it tastes better if you do it for longer according to the instructions, but its still delicious if you do it the quick way!)
For the lime yoghurt, place ingredients in a small bowl with ½ tsp salt and a grind of black pepper. Mix well.
Spread pumpkin out on a large platter. Arrange the tomatoes in between. Drizzle over lime yoghurt, sprinkle with coriander, cashews, shallots, and serve.
Enjoy!
L xx