This roast pumpkin will have you feeling good with its delicious pepita yoghurt and a little greenery for good measure.

Recipe Kane Pollard | Photographs Brendan Homan | Food styling Natalie Homan

Roast pumpkin, pepita yoghurt and garden leaf salad
serves 12

for pepita yoghurt
500g tub of live cultured yoghurt
350g pepita seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp flake salt

Line a sieve with some cheese cloth or filter paper and place it on a jug or bowl. This setup needs to be able to fit in your fridge, with enough room in the jug to catch the whey.

Pour yoghurt into the cheese-cloth-lined sieve and place in the fridge overnight.

Preheat your oven to 160C. Toast pepita seeds on a tray for about 20 minutes, until they start to gently colour. You may even hear them start to pop open. Set aside a handful to garnish. While the rest of the roasted pepitas are still warm, using a mortar and pestle or food processor, pound them until they become a paste, adding the olive oil and salt during this process. You should end up with a “pepita seed butter”. Whisk the hung yoghurt (labneh) together with the seed butter until smooth. Keep yoghurt whey to dress the leaves when plating.

for pumpkin
1 pumpkin, cut into wedges, de-seeded, skin on
1 tsp sumac
¼ cup olive oil
2 rosemary stems
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 190C. Toss your pumpkin wedges, olive oil, rosemary, sumac, salt and pepper together. Lay in single layer on a baking tray and roast for about 30 minutes until tender and caramelised. Arrange pumpkin on a plate with dollops of the pepita seed yogurt. Garnish with herbs and salad leaves dressed with whey and olive oil.

 

This recipe first appeared in the February 2024 issue of SALIFE magazine.