Roast pumpkin, bulgur wheat, dates, red onion, spinach and goats cheese
This salad is a number-one hit when the weather begins to turn. It’s the ultimate vegetarian salad because it’s really hearty and filling. It’s delicious both warm and cold, so you can make it in the evening and be the envy of your colleagues at lunch the next day.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 pumpkin, about 1–2kg/2¼ –4½ lb
- Olive oil, for cooking
- A few thyme and rosemary sprigs
- 2 red onions
- 500g/1lb 2oz/3 cups
- Bulgur wheat
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 50g/1¾ oz dried dates, stoned and quartered lengthways
- 200g/7oz spinach
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 250g/9oz soft goat’s cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6. Cut the pumpkin in half with a large, heavy knife and scoop out all the seeds from the centre using a spoon. Discard the seeds (you can toast these to use in another salad). Remove the skin then dice the pumpkin flesh roughly into 2.5cm/1in pieces and toss in a baking tray with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper and half the fresh herbs. Roast on the top shelf of the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Use a sharp knife to check when the chunks are soft in the centre.
- Meanwhile, peel the onions, making sure to leave the root intact (this will help keep the wedges together). Half each one lengthways, then cut each half into 3 or 4 wedges lengthways again, through the root.
- Place the onion wedges in a baking tray and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, pepper and remaining fresh herbs, then roast in the oven for 30–45 minutes. If the onions finish roasting before the pumpkin, put the tray at the bottom of the oven to keep them warm.
- Put the bulgur wheat into a heatproof bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
- When the onions and pumpkin pieces are ready, leave to cool for a few minutes. Separate the bulgur wheat grains with a fork, then dress with a drizzle of olive oil. Season and mix in all the remaining ingredients, except the cheese.
- Crumble the goat’s cheese over the top before serving.
Optional orange and honey dressing
Sweet and sticky, this one is best when on top of warm meat salads and roasted veg.
- 400ml/14fl oz/1¾ cups orange juice
- 1 tbsp honey
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- Salt
Bring three-quarters of the orange juice to the boil in a pan and cook until it has reduced by three-quarters. Add the remaining orange juice together with the honey and mix the zest into it.
For a bolder flavour, peel the orange and slice into very fine strips. Season to taste with salt.
Recipe taken from Savage Salads: Fierce flavours, Filling power-ups by Kristina Gustafsson and Davide Del Gatto (Frances Lincoln, £16.99). Out 2nd June, available for pre-order here
