Saturday, February 26, 2011

roasted pumpkin salad

it's another recipe post!  a few months ago i was reading a blog where a woman was talking about her family's new food addiction.  i can't remember exactly what her kids were inhaling, but she said it was inspired by a recipe she found on 101cookbooks.  it involved a pumpkin and since i had two in storage i was pretty determined to try my hand at it.  finally, yesterday, i did.  while searching for the blog i had read, i instead came across the recipe on 101 cookbooks, so i did that one.

sorry i don't have pictures, but i do have a link to the website where i got the recipe and that has pictures. and hers are pretty!  much prettier than how my dish turned out, but according to bret, taste is what matters anyway, and this was a winner.  he nearly ate the whole bowlful by himself!

By the way, what I'm posting here is my version of the recipe.  Feel free to follow the original.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad

3 cups of diced and peeled pumpkin (obtained from Mother's garden last fall)
2 large onions cut into large chunks (basically quartered)
olive oil and salt - no measurement - enough to coat the pumpkin and onions.

Toss the pumpkin and onion in oil and salt and then bake on a lined cookie sheet for around 50 minutes at 375.  Every now and then try to stir it up a bit so they can bake on new sides.  The goal is to have them caramelize a bit.

While that is baking, make two cups of brown rice.

While rice is cooking, blend the following in a food processor to make the dressing:

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped


When everything is done, mix them all together and enjoy!

3 comments:

Tricia said...

Mmm...I have lots of butternut squash I could use for this. I've been putting sweet potato puree in our hot cocoa this winter and it's SOO good. Last night I put Butternut puree and cinnamon in instead and it tasted like chocolate/pumpkin cocoa. It was really good too!

plainoldsarah said...

trish - i want to know more! how much? stephen's cocoa or real kind you make your self with cocoa powder and sugar and milk?

by the way, the blog post i read months ago was one you turned me onto - the lady who doesn't like puzzles. i had mixed feelings about her posts - she didn't quite seem happy - there was a bit of an edge i thought - but i liked that she got me thinking about stuff in new ways.

Tricia said...

I've been making cocoa from scratch- using this recipe:

4 cups milk
1 cup semi/milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 to 1 cup sweet potato puree (depending on your taste)

I heat the chips in the microwave til melted then blender it with half of the milk, the puree, and the cinnamon and vanilla for about 20 seconds. Add to the rest of the milk in a saucepan and heat. Of coarse you can do it with cocoa powder and sugar instead of choc. chips, too. Less fat there.

I agree The Lazy Organizer gets you thinking. She's a bit more extremist than I am, but has inspired me in some areas.