Roasted pumpkin salad: caramelised edges, served warm
Boiled pumpkin is watery and bland; roasted pumpkin caramelises at the edges and turns as sweet as fruit. The whole difference lies in two things: high heat and space on the tray. Pieces packed together steam in their own moisture and stew instead of browning. The second rule concerns serving: this salad is eaten warm, while the pumpkin still holds its heat and the feta is beginning to soften against it.
Your own work in that: 8 min.
- Cutting and seasoning 17 min
- Roasting 30 min
- Assembly 8 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCut the squash, skin on
Heat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan). Wash the butternut, halve it, scoop out the seeds and cut it into thick 2 cm wedges, unpeeled. Butternut skin is soft and entirely edible once roasted, and it is what holds the pieces together instead of letting them collapse.
Ingredients: 1000 g butternut squash · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp pepper · ½ tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp dried thyme
TipHokkaido squash has an even thinner skin and is likewise not peeled. Butternut and hokkaido are the two varieties that roast best — ordinary field pumpkin is too watery.
2 cm wedges, skin onSpread it out with space
Toss the wedges with the oil, salt, pepper, chilli and thyme. Spread them on a tray in one layer, 2 cm apart. Crowded pumpkin steams and comes out soft but pale — and the point here is brown, caramelised edges.
TipIf it won't fit on one tray, use two. Cramming everything onto one is the commonest reason roasted vegetables come out characterless.
One layer, two centimetres apartRoast hot
Roast 30 minutes at 220 °C, turning the wedges once after 20. They should be soft inside and dark brown and sticky at the edges. High heat is the condition here: at 180 °C the pumpkin goes soft before it has a chance to brown.
Dark, sticky edges after thirty minutesToast the seeds
While the squash roasts, toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry pan for 4 minutes, shaking, until they start to pop and smell nutty. Tip them straight onto a cold plate — in a hot pan they keep cooking and turn bitter quickly.
Ingredients: 100 g rocket · 150 g feta · ½ pcs red onion · 60 g pumpkin seeds · ½ bunch parsley
Four minutes, until they start to popMix the dressing
Whisk the oil with the balsamic, honey, mustard and salt. Balsamic and honey are not arbitrary here: pumpkin is sweet, and this dressing adds the acid and depth without which the salad would be uniformly sweet.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp olive oil · 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar · 1 tbsp honey · 1 tsp Dijon mustard · ¼ tsp salt
Assemble while the pumpkin is warm
Spread the rocket on a platter and dress it with half the dressing. Lay the warm pumpkin over it, crumble the feta, add thinly sliced onion, the seeds and parsley. Spoon over the rest of the dressing and serve at once.
Ingredients: 100 g rocket · 150 g feta · ½ pcs red onion · 60 g pumpkin seeds · ½ bunch parsley
TipWarm pumpkin slightly wilts the rocket and softens the feta — and that contrast is exactly the point. A cold pumpkin salad is a different and far duller dish.
Warm pumpkin onto rocket, feta on top
Before you start
As a full dinner
Add cooked green lentils or pearl barley, a cup once cooked, and double the dressing. It becomes a substantial one-bowl meal for an autumn evening.
Instead of pumpkin
Sweet potato, carrot or roasted beetroot — all behave the same way at high heat. Beetroot needs 10 minutes longer, sweet potato 5 minutes less.
With nuts
Walnuts or hazelnuts instead of seeds. Toasted and roughly broken they give a sharper contrast than seeds, and suit pumpkin just as well.
A day ahead
The pumpkin can be roasted in advance and kept a day in the fridge. Before assembling, reheat it 8 minutes at 200 °C so it comes back to temperature and regains its sticky edges.
