Hearty, warming and filling, this is next level comfort food from Rosa Matto.

Recipe Rosa Matto | Photograph Brendan Homan | Styling Natalie Homan

Pumpkin with smokey sausages, speck, beans and red capsicum
Serves 4

½ pumpkin, cut horizontally
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 2 hours.

2 tbsp olive oil
125g smoked Barossa speck, diced
1 brown onion, chopped
200g small chipolata sausages
1 fresh bay leaf
4 sage leaves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 capsicum, roasted until blistered, peeled and sliced
150g green beans, cut into 2cm pieces, blanched
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
dried chilli to taste
2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained
salt and pepper

Warm the olive oil and fry the speck and onion until soft but not coloured. Add the sausages and brown (they won’t be cooked at this stage). Put in the herbs, paprika, canned tomatoes with all their juice, the capsicum strips and the blanched beans. Add the molasses, vinegar and chilli. Cook until much of the liquid has evaporated and add the chickpeas. Cook further until the sauce is as thick as you prefer. Adjust for seasoning. If you have a smoking machine, you can add a charge or two of smoke to enhance the smokiness.

To serve: Pile the hot bean and sausage mixture into the warm pumpkin half and scoop out into bowls at the table.

 

This recipe first appeared in the August 2018 issue of SALIFE.