Roasted Pumpkin Salad With Goat's Cheese And Pecan Nuts
This delicious pumpkin salad is one of my favorite ways to use this delicious Autumn squash. It's packed full of flavor, healthy and full of wonderful textures.The sweet nuttiness of the roasted pumpkin works amazing with the light creamy Goat's cheese, crunchy leaves and homemade balsamic glaze.
Servings 2 portions
Ingredients
- 500 g (4 ¼ cups) roasted pumpkin
- 70 g (⅓ cups) soft goat's cheese or goat's curd
- 30 g (3 tablespoon) pecan nuts - roasted
- 20 g (1 ⅓ tablespoon) balsamic glaze
- 50 g (3 ⅓ tablespoon) pan juice dressing - see instructions in post
- 30 g (½ bunch) salad leaves of your choice
Instructions
Roasting the pecans and making the goat's cheese cream
- Roast at 160 °C or 320 °F for about 8 minutes. Take care not to burn them.
- Once done, let them cool down before using.
- Simply mix the soft goat's cheese or curd with a touch of water, milk or cream.
- Season with a bit of salt and pepper and stir until the mix is homogenous, smooth and the consistency of drinking yoghurt.
Roasting the pumpkin
- Turn your oven to 220 °C or 428 °F and line a roasting tray with parchment.
- Cut the pumpkin into wedges and make the marinade. The skin will be tender when cooked if the pumpkin is young. Apart from decorative type little pumpkins. Their skins will be like leather. Advised not to use as they lack flavor and texture too.
- Place everything onto the tray and cover tightly with aluminium foil.
- Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of your pumpkin and how your oven cooks. The pumpkin should be tender but not mushy.
- Remove the pumpkin from the roasting tray and set aside.
- You need the roasting juices left in the pan for the following step.
Making the dressing
- Collect the pan juices left over from roasting the pumpkin and discard the hard rosemary stalks but keep the garlic and tender rosemary leaves.
- Pour the liquid into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Reserve until needed.
Making the Balsamic reduction (or Buy it)
- Place all the ingredients into a suitably sized saucepan.
- Reduce down slowly by exactly 55%.
- This means that if you start with a weight of 887 grams in the pot. You need to remove it from the stove when the weight of the contents reaches 400 grams. Kitchen scales are a must.
- Cooldown before using or storing for later use.
Putting it all together
- Dress the salad and pumpkin with the pan juice dressing.
- Start layering the salad by alternating ingredients.
- Serve straight away.
Notes
- Make sure the pumpkin has chilled down a bit to not wilt the leaves
- If you are making ahead, keep the dressings separate.
- Can be stored in the fridge for 2 days sealed airtight
- You can use other types of creamy cheese instead of goat's cheese.
- Make it vegan by using vegan cheese.
- This recipe is naturally gluten-free.
Nutrition
Serving: 300g Calories: 1742kcal Carbohydrates: 46g Protein: 83g Fat: 150g Saturated Fat: 28g Polyunsaturated Fat: 53g Monounsaturated Fat: 47g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 16mg Sodium: 998mg Potassium: 2066mg Fiber: 18g Sugar: 7g Vitamin A: 560IU Vitamin C: 8mg Calcium: 194mg Iron: 21mg
Keywords:autumn salad, pumpkin salad, roasted pumpkin
Did you make this?Tag @pantsdownapronson or hashtag #pantsdownapronson so I can see your hot skills!