Julie Biuso shares a great recipe to make the most of the cheap butternut pumpkins available right now.
Roasted Spiced Butternut with Salad can be served with lentils as part of a vegetarian meal or alongside roast chicken, Julie tells Jesse Mulligan.
“You've got a really attractive, gorgeous dish which can be a main course. Add some lentils if you want to make it go further. Even canned lentils are terrific during lockdown, they’re a great staple.”
Roasted Spiced Butternut Photo: Julie Biuso
Butternut pumpkin has a long neck and a little bulbous part at the end. It looks like this:
Photo: Pexels
Choose butternuts that weigh about one kilo, Julie says.
“Trim off the little stalk with a sharp knife and then cut the butternut in half down the length and scoop out the seeds and the little fibre from the cavity.
“You don't need to peel it, by the way, the peel is edible or you can leave it on the plate if you don't want to eat it. “
Cut each pumpkin half into four long pieces, she says.
“You do need a nice, strong, sturdy knife whenever you're cutting a pumpkin.”
Then it’s time to make the spice mix:
- Two tablespoons of butter or two tablespoons of olive oil
- One teaspoon of garam masala
- A little pinch of chilli flakes
- A quarter of a teaspoon of ground cumin
- A teaspoon of flaky sea salt (or 1/2 teaspoon of table salt)
“If you're going to serve the pumpkin hot as a vege to go with a roast chicken or something like that, then use butter in this little spice mix.
“But if you're going to serve with salad and a little yoghurt dressing you want to use oil because if you did use butter, the butter would congeal as the pumpkin cooled.”
Spoon the spice mix over the pumpkin and roast it in the oven for about 50 minutes.
Serve the roasted pumpkin with salad, yoghurt sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds.
