ROAST SUMAC PUMPKIN SALAD

This versatile salad could also be used as a burrito filling, which I have used several times to make the meal more 'manly' for my husband. When it gets chilly I love nothing more than pumpkin and try to incorporate it into meals at least a few times a week, whether it be roasted, steamed or in soup form. Here's my take on a roast pumpkin salad with a zesty ground sumac & lemon rub. This salad also has a summery vibe as I'm not ready to let go of the warm weather yet! 

INGREDIENTS

• 900g pumpkin, peeled, seeded & cut into thin slices
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 teaspoon ground sumac 
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 2 large handfuls of mixed lettuce leaves 
• 1 x 400g tin of 5 bean mix, rinsed & drained
• 50g reduced-fat feta (I used Danish), crumbled
• 1 small avocado, roughly chopped 

COOKING 

1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 200 degrees celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Either toss the pumpkin slices, olive oil, sumac and the juice of half the lemon in a large bowl OR combine the oil, sumac and lemon juice in a small bowl and brush this over each pumpkin slice. Try not to overlap the pumpkin slices, however lay them very closely together so that you have room to fit all of them. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is golden and tender but not mushy. 

2. Meanwhile, combine the mixed lettuce leaves, beans, feta and avocado in a large serving bowl. Drizzle the remaining lemon juice and ground black pepper on top. Once the pumpkin has roasted, leave to cool for a few minutes before carefully adding to the salad. You may not want to toss the pumpkin too much or it will become mushy. 

Serves  / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 20 minutes 

x Premium Pilates Studio 

THYME TURKEY with ROAST PUMPKIN

I love cooking with turkey as I actually like the taste more than chicken. I found a wonderful butcher at Greenslopes- Rock N Roll Butcher- that sells turkey steaks at a very reasonable price. This meal was created as I was walking my big kelpie; I tend to get my best cooking ideas when I am walking him, so we walk together everyday! 

Ingredients

• baking paper 
• 450g turkey steak, fat removed and cut into even pieces
• 1 heaped tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 heaped tablespoon lemon thyme or thyme leaves, fresh or dried, stems discarded 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 
• 400g pumpkin, deseeded, peeled and chopped into even 3cm pieces
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• a generous pinch of ground black pepper
• 1/2 a leek, white part only, finely chopped
• 4 handfuls of mixed lettuce, washed and roughly torn/chopped 

Cooking 

1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 220 degrees celsius. Line a medium to large baking tray with baking paper. 

2. Combine the turkey, mustard, thyme, vinegar and 1 teaspoon oil in a medium bowl, stirring well. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. 

3. Once the turkey is marinating, toss 1 teaspoon oil, pumpkin pieces, maple syrup and pepper in a medium bowl. Place in a single layer on the prepared baking tray and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender and / or just starting to become golden. 

4. Once the turkey had marinated for 8 minutes, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in a medium frypan over medium-low heat and swirl to coat the pan. Add the leek and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant and just starting to become golden. Remove from heat and add the turkey to the pan, keeping the heat over medium-low. Cook the turkey for 4 minutes, stirring often, then turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave the turkey to sit in the pan for 5 minutes. After this time pick the biggest few pieces of turkey and cut them in half, checking that the turkey is white and no longer pink. If it is still slightly pink, cook for another minute. 

5. Toss the cooked turkey, leek, pumpkin and lettuce in a large serving bowl. Serve with extra thyme leaves, if desired. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation & Cooking time / around 40 minutes 

PUMPKIN NACHOS

It was a cooler day in Brisbane today and as a result my taste buds were craving something warm and hearty. I started roasting pumpkin to put in a salad but after a few minutes in the oven I decided that the pumpkin's future was going to be as a 'dip' or 'sauce'. I used broken taco shells as a nacho chip, however you could also use mountain wraps cut into triangles. I love how simple and hearty this meal is. If you do not have the spices listed in the ingredients list below, use what you have on hand, such as ground black pepper, dried herbs, fresh herbs, etc. 

All you need to make this recipe is an oven, half a kilo of pumpkin and a little creativity. 

Ingredients

• 500g pumpkin (any type), peeled & cut into even 2cm pieces
• 1 tablespoon rice bran oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled & finely chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground chilli / chilli flakes
• 2 teaspoons ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground sage 
• 8 taco shells or 4 mountain wraps, cut into small chip pieces
• 80g feta, crumbled or chopped into small pieces 

Cooking 

1. Preheat a fan force oven to 220 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 

2. Combine the pumpkin in a medium bowl with the oil, garlic and whatever spices you are using. Toss well to combine then spread the pumpkin out in a single layer on the prepared tray. Roast for 20 minutes, then remove from the tray and place the pumpkin back into the bowl you used to toss the ingredients. 

3. Spread the corn chips in a single layer on the now empty oven tray and sprinkle 1/2 of the feta on top. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes. 

4. Whilst the chips are baking, mash the roasted pumpkin with a fork, adding in 1/4 of the remaining feta. '

Serve the pumpkin 'dip' / 'sauce' in a bowl with the feta left over on top and the baked chips on the side. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes 

TERESA CUTTER'S PUMPKIN BREAD

I stumbled across this recipe by the Healthy Chef, Teresa Cutter, while looking in a House & Garden magazine for renovation inspiration. I’ve come across Teresa in the past and have tried out some of her gluten-free, often dairy-free and health-conscious desserts and treats. I am sure we are all guilty of thinking of allergy free and low sugar sweets as dry, bland and uninteresting at one point in time, but the Healthy Chef blows this falsehood out of the water with her full flavoured, moist and easy-to-make cakes, muffins and breads (among other recipes). Here is her Pumpkin Bread, adapted very slightly. Even if you are not a fan of pumpkin I suggest making it- the warm bread is delightful with a dollop of butter, dunked in a steaming bowl of soup or eaten solo. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 heaped cups (450-475g) grated raw pumpkin 
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 4 eggs, preferably free-range 
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1/6 - 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 3 cups almond meal
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free baking powder, sifted 

COOKING / BAKING

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a narrow but deep loaf tin with baking paper. 

2. In a large bowl place the grated pumpkin, syrup, eggs, salt, nutmeg and oil. Mix to combine and add almond meal and baking powder, stirring well. 

3. Pour/spoon the pumpkin mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer or knife inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to rest for 1 hour before lifting out. 

Makes / 1 loaf

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes

Total Cooking time / 1 hour 10 minutes 

x Emily 

SILVERBEET, PUMPKIN & BLACK BEAN STEW

This recipe was inspired from a recipe on Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s online website, found in the ‘Dark Leafy Greens’ post. I have been wanting to try using silverbeet for a long time as I have never cooked it myself before. I will freely admit that I watched a 20 second video on how to prepare it (gosh I love the internet, there's just everything out there that you need or have ever wondered about). It was a bit of a rainy day in Brisbane on Monday, hence the warmer meal. As regular readers of this blog and of Soulful Sandwiches may know, I have been trying and trying to get my fiancé to eat hearty meals without any meat in them. Now I’m not a vegetarian myself but sometimes my body just does not feel like meat or does not need it. This meal was one of the most filling vegetarian meals I have had in a while and I’d definitely recommend this recipe (or Gwyneth’s; she uses sweet potato, white beans and kale).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons lemon pepper
• 700g pumpkin, seeds & peel removed and chopped into even cubes
• 1 x tin of 400g diced tomatoes 
• 500ml (2 cups) vegetable stock 
• 1/3 - 1/2 bunch of silver beet (2 cups tightly packed), stem removed, chopped & washed 
• 1 x 400 tin of black beans, washed & drained

COOKING 

1. Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1 minute. Next add the onion and garlic and stir until the onion is soft and the garlic is fragrant. Add the lemon pepper and pumpkin and stir well until all ingredients are combined. Pour in the tomatoes and stir frequently for 5 minutes, until the pumpkin starts to soften. 

2. Add the stock, silver beet and black beans to the pan and stir to combine. Place the lid on the pan and reduce the heat to a low simmer for around 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft and tender but not mushy (to make sure mushiness does not happen, check on the stew around the 10-12 minute mark and spear a fork through the biggest cube of pumpkin you can find - if the fork goes in easier the stew is done, if there is some resistance give the stew a few more minutes on the stove). 

Serves / 4

Total Preparation time / 20 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25-30 minutes 

x Emily