Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Feta and Walnuts

Course Salad

Cuisine International

Keyword fall salad, pumpkin salad, roasted pumpkin

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings people

Calories 265kcal

Ingredients

1/2 Muscat Squash
1 small Rosemary Sprig
4 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Sweet Paprika Powder
3 dried Sage Leaves
1/2 tsp Chili Flakes
70 g Feta
a handful of Walnuts
Salt to taste

Instructions

First of all, wash the pumpkin as you will be roasting it unpeeled. Cut it in half and save the other half for later. Remove the seeds and soft pulp around them and cut the pumpkin into 5-6 slices.
Pour some olive oil onto the bottom of an oven tray and spread it around in order to coat it all. In a small bowl add 3 tbsp of olive oil, 2 dried sage leaves finely crushed, the rosemary leaves finely minced and the sweet paprika. Stir to combine and spread over the pulp of every pumpkin slice. Lay the slices on the tray over one side, not on the skin, just make sure that both sides are nicely coated in oil mixture.
Bake the pumpkin slices for a total of 45 minutes at 180°C, turning them after the first half hour so that both sides get to nicely roast. When the baking time is up, take out the tray and let the pumpkin cool down to room temperature.
With the help of a knife gently peel the pumpkin slices. It should be a fairly easy procedure, as it should pull away from the pulp very easily. Dice the roasted pumpkin and transfer to a serving bowl.
In a smaller bowl combine 1 tbsp of olive oil, the chili flakes and 1 dried sage leaf finely crushed. Stir and pour this dressing mixture over the pumpkin pieces. Add some salt and toss. Note: Depending on the type of squash used, this salad may come out quite sweet, so the quantity of salt may vary. Keep in mind that the feta will help balance the overall taste, but I like to season the pumpkin alone with some salt to bring it to a more neutral taste.
Cut the feta into a small dice or crumble it, and add it to the bowl. Lastly, add the chopped walnuts. You can optionally toast them, or just use them directly. Gently toss to distribute the other ingredients all around and serve.

Notes

Some recipes call for the use of honey. I preferred not to use that. Again, it all depends on individual taste, but my pumpkin was already quite sweet alone. I can see honey fit very well in a roasted butternut squash salad, as that type of squash is less on the sweet side than muscat squash.

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