When I dine out, especially at cafes and bistros, I have a habit of dissecting my meal and thinking of just how I can recreate it at home. Recently, I had lunch where on the menu as appetizer, was a roasted slice of pumpkin served with a salad. It was delicious!
Naturally, I had to figure out how I could recreate it at home. It looked simple enough and I balk at paying RM18 for a thin slice of pumpkin and some raw vegetables 😛 So, from memory, I assembled my version of the salad and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, its a little different but it was delicious all the same.
Serve it as an appetizer or as a main meal. and because I’m nice like that, I’m sharing my recipe here 😉
Roast Pumpkin & Arugula (Rocket) Salad
You need:
- 1 pumpkin slice (leave the skin on to hold the shape)
- Arugula (Rocket) leaves
- Lettuce Leaves and any leaves you want in your salad
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Pesto sauce
- Pine nuts or sunflower seeds lightly toasted
- Salt, Pepper and Mixed Herbs to taste
How to:
- Pre-heat your oven to 200° for about 15 minutes
- Toss the pumpkin slices with some olive oil, sea salt, pepper and mixed herbs
- Lightly cover pumpkin slices with foil and place in oven at 200° for about 30 minutes. Check about halfway through to see if they are cooked. In the last few minutes, remove the foil and let the edges brown.
- Meanwhile, mix some olive oil with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper for salad dressing. Or use a premade french or italian dressing if you prefer.
- Dress your salad and assemble on plate. Serve with roasted pumpkin and a spoonful of pesto sauce and sprinkle over with the pine nuts or sunflower seeds.
Because this is not a cooking or a food blog, here are some beauty benefits of this dish:-
- Pumpkins are rich in beta-carotene which is an antioxidant. Its good for health and you know what that means. A healthy body means good skin.
- Pumpkin is very filling. So if you are trying to go on a low carb diet, I think this is a nice substitute. I didn’t realize it myself until I tried to eat 2 slices in one sitting. Surprisingly filling! The sweetness of the flesh is also a nice substitute for those who have a sweet tooth. Little wonder they use pumpkin in desserts too.
- Lots of greens make for a healthy gut. Lots of greens mean lots of fibre and that keeps your gut healthy. A healthy gut can also potentially mean lesser breakouts and better skin.
- Arugula (Rocket) leaves are very rich in vitamins. I love Rocket and I love liberal amounts of this spicy herb in my salad. Its now much easier and cheaper to get it locally so I’m very happy.
- Olive Oil is good for the heart. Olive oil is well documented as being good for overall health. I don’t use it in general cooking but its nice for salads and it was infinitely healthier than using butter in this recipe! Actually I would have used butter but I didn’t have any but olive oil is good enough.
Above all, its pretty delicious, if I don’t say so myself. I used to hate eating pumpkin. It stemmed from some sort of phobia as a kid (being served it too often) but now, I’m starting to enjoy it again in small quantities.
The pesto dressing is optional but adds a lovely flavour when paired with the roasted pumpkin. I eat the pumpkin skin and all, because its all so crispy and aromatic! The sunflower seeds or pine nuts too are optional but they are delicious to add a bit of crunch to the dish. It is fresh, easy to prepare and quick.
Do you like eating pumpkin? Would you try making this? I had a delicious crabmeat nicoise salad recently too. I might try to replicate that at home soon 🙂
Paris “Martha” B
Scrumptious Saturday: One day in a week where I indulge in my other love – food and cooking.
I love pumpkin! Mum used to make this one-pot-dish where we will have pumpkin, shrimp, meat and shallots all mixed with rice! Had is frequently during my school-going days when I had to scoff everything down in a jiffy after school (in the car!) as mum rushed me off for extra-curricular activities. Those were the days!
Now I don’t really cook pumpkin because it’s a real pain to slice!! But since I’m on a diet (or I’m meant to be on one) I probably should get some of these…. Or butternut squash perhaps? 🙂 have a lovely weekend, Paris!
This* sorry can’t spell!
Ok, Sukie, when is your Mom making pumpkin rice again so I can pop over? LOL It sounds delish! Do you know I didn’t realise just how hard it is to slice pumpkin? I thought it would be like slicing an apple. Could never be more wrong! >.< Oh and butternut squash is love! You can try it with that too 😀
I love pumpkin as well however im wondering if our local pumpkin tastes different from australian pumpkin? did you use local pumpkin for this?
I used local pumpkin coz I refused to pay for the imported ones. Just picked up the cheapest ones I saw in Cold Storage while I was there although I’m told the ones at Jusco or hypermarts are even cheaper. Tasted pretty good 🙂
I love pumpkin! It takes me to the ball to meet my Prince Charming!
Anyway… I also love eating it. And thanks for the recipe, I will try it once I’ve got my oven door fixed. My son will NOT eat any vege and treats them all with great suspicion. This may be the solution I’m looking for.
Hope he’ll eat this one! I don’t eat pumpkin and even I ate it all up 😉
This sounds so delicious and healthy! Will try! 🙂
it is! 😀 Hope you’ll enjoy it too!
I love pumpkin especially the butternut variety 🙂 I like to roast mine with a mixture of olive oil & honey with a pinch of salt & pepper. If roasted in chunks ( with some garlic) its so yummy tossed through some warm couscous
Ooh I love butternut squash too! I just did a simple grill during a bbq once and it was very popular because it was different from all the regulation roast potatoes 😀 Thanks for the recipe to add honey. I’ll try next time. Must give it a nice caramel flavour!
Are you a Martha Stewart fan too? My son and I love to watch her baking show – Martha Bakes!
Yes! I love watching her shows – she makes cooking look so effortless. As well as Jamie Oliver. I love watching him too!
This dish is getting me all excited! I’m gonna try it one of these days! By the way, silly question but you don’t eat the pumpkin skin, do you?
I do! Its all lovely and crisped so I just whack it all off. Just make sure you clean it properly of course. I used a small pumpkin and the skin wasn’t very thick.
I don’t usually eat pumpkin because it’s soft mushy and gooey when cooked Chinese style, but this looks so yummy and nutritious i think i have to try it out! You had me at the “good skin” part 😉
Hi Germs, yeah exactly lol – your description on the chinese style pumpkin was spot on! Looks like my mum is not the one with the gooey pumpkin dish hahaha.
I know! I grew up eating smushy mushy pumpkin and it really put me off. But like this, its just so much more palatable and the fresh salad helps temper it too. Give it a go and see? 😉
Wow, such an eye beauty and looks yummy too 😀 I’ve once tried some roasted pumpkin salad at Indulgence, Ipoh, a fusion and chef’s creativity at best restaurant. It was yummy and memorable to my platter. But at home, my mum rarely cooks pumpkin because it’s usually chinese style and it will end up like a meshed sweet stuff lol. I like rocket leaves and pine nuts too. But it’s quite pricey if memory serves me right, usually only found at high end supermarkets. Most restaurants serve quite Mr. Scrooge portion of rocket leaves that comes with salad with countable pine nuts 😛
Pine nuts are really pricey so I made do with sunflower seeds. Same crunchiness and much cheaper! Rocket leaves aren’t very pricey anymore because they are grown locally so I think a bag costs something like RM4 or RM6? Something like that anyway 🙂 Maybe you could make this for your mom and see if she likes it. And then you can avoid all the mashed sweet goop! 😉
I loveeeeeee pumpkin. But too bad I can’t eat too much of it or else I’ll get gastric. Just a veryyyyy small portion (3 or 4 small cube-sized) is all I can take. If I eat, even a small portion of it on empty stomach, immediately 2 hours after that, I’ll get stomachache, feeling dizzy and sometimes will throw-up. T__T
Oh boo! 🙁 Sorry to hear pumpkin gives you gastric and such a terrible reaction too!
Yummm! I like the sounds of this a lot! Except I think I’ll wait for fall. I don’t like turning the oven on too much in summer!
Oh yeah in summer, not a great idea to have the oven on but you could pop this on the grill if having a barbeque 🙂 I’ve taken to doing oven meals coz I’m just too lazy to stand over a hot stove. The heatwave here isn’t letting up!
it look so awesome 🙂 I shall try it out someday. never heard of rocket though 😀
I hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂 You can use any salad leaves with it. Salad leaves helps with the fresh flavour 🙂
Yum! I love pumpkin! 😀
But rocket leaves are not my thing. Don’t fancy the peppery taste of it. 🙁
I’d definitely try this with other salad leaves. 😉
It definitely works with any salad leaves 🙂 I do love rocket though so if we have lunch, feel free to pass me all your rocket leaves. Yum! 😉
Loveeeeee pumpkin especially in soups. It’s my favourite winter vegetable and I would make a massive pot of pumpkin soup to warm me up
Hmm… come to think of it, I do enjoy having pumpkin soup! When the weather cools down, I’ll give it a go 😀
i LOVE pumpkin, everytime i go to Zipangu i would snatch all the pumpkin tempura…and get disappointed sometimes when i get some carrot mixed in =.=
LOL! I am the opposite! 😛 But I always thought it was sweet potato you know… tells you how much my tastebuds know eh?
Oooh that looks delicious <3!
om noms, it is! 😉
Oh PB! You are luring me to quickly get my oven fixed and try this on! Sigh…now am feeling hungry =P
Oohh…by the way, I think probably I will add some corns into the salad. Love corns with salads =) yummmm…..
Teehee… Do it! I love cooking in the oven. Its so easy to just leave it and I can go about my business till its done 😀