Baked Pumpkin and Quinoa with Spiced Cranberry Flavour Pearls

Baked Pumpkin and Quinoa with Spiced Cranberry Flavour Pearls is a beauty for your Christmas day entertaining. It’s a salad but not as you know it!

Pretty enough to place on the table too. We’ve simply scored and baked some sweet Butternut Pumpkin and added a delicious Quinoa salad mix over the top. Perfect for a meat free meal that can still be ‘carved’ at the table. If you had some handy, adding some Fetta and a few semi-dried Tomatoes would be delightful too.

What you’ll need

• Butternut Pumpkin – 1/2 or more depending on how many you’re feeding
• Spanish Onion
• Thyme sprigs if you wish
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt & Pepper
• Quinoa – we used Tri-colour, 1/2 cup uncooked will yield 1.5 cups cooked (you could certainly use cous cous instead if you had it in the pantry already)
• Pepitas – handful 
• Parsley – wash and chop
• Coriander – wash and chop
• Zest Lemon
• Spiced Cranberry Flavour Pearls (or Pepperberry & Cherry or Balsamic or Davidson Plum or Lemon & Black Pepper)

To do

Pop your oven on to 180c.

Lets prepare the Pumpkin. Firstly scoop out the Pumpkin seeds with a spoon. Using a small sharp knife score the cut side of the Pumpkin in a criss-cross pattern about 1cm deep. Cover a tray with baking paper and pop the Pumpkin on. Generously brush the cut side of Pumpkin with Olive Oil and season well. Bake for around an hour or until the Pumpkin is soft and a little coloured.

We need to roast the Spanish onion too. Peel and cut it into nice size wedges. Likely 6 to 8 depending on the size of the Onion. *if you leave a little of the root area intact the wedges will hold together better – just chop the rooty bits off. Combine with a little Olive Oil, Thyme (if you’re using it) and seasoning and bake on a tray until soft and a little coloured. 

*These items can be pre-baked the day before if you wish to be super organized*

Next

Rinse your uncooked Quinoa well with cold water – this is to remove bitterness, trust me you don’t want to forget this step! Pop it into a saucepan with plenty of extra water – it will absorb 3 times its volume of liquid. So 1/2 cup Quinoa to 3 cups water. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. I just pop mine in a sieve to do this. 

Lets toast the Pepitas in a frypan with a little Olive Oil. Pop the stove on to a medium heat and gently cook the Pepitas until they begin to colour a little. Drain on absorbent paper and once cooled a little season well and set them aside. *you could do this in the oven – I usually get sidetracked and burn them so prefer the stove top method!

To serve

I think the Pumpkin tastes better either slightly warm to room temperature so if you pre-baked just leave it out to lose it’s chill for an hour or so before serving.

In a bowl combine the Quinoa, roast Onion, toasted pepitas with a little Lemon Zest and chopped herbs. A little drizzle of Olive Oil is nice too. Season well. Place the Pumpkin onto a platter, add the Quinoa mix and finish with a few generous spoonful’s of Spiced Cranberry Flavour Pearls. 

If the Christmas cheer becomes too much just top up your glass and smile 🙂

Until next time

From the Peninsula Larder Team

“Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”

– Peg Bracken