Roasted baby pumpkins – cute little edible bowls, full of rich flavours

Roasted baby pumpkins are delicious and easy to cook. Not only they are packed with flavours and healthy goodies, but also impressive to serve. Most importantly, it is a very versatile dish. You can swap any ingredients for whatever you like or have in your fridge, each time creating unique rich flavours.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 small pumpkins or squash
• 100 g of wild rice
• 2 bay leaves (fresh or dry)
• olive oil
• 1 medium-size onion (red or shallot)
• 1 garlic clove
• 50 g of black olives
• 50 g of sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/3 of a teaspoon of red chilli flakes
• 1/3 of a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/3 of a teaspoon of cumin
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 of a teaspoon dry oregano
• 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika flakes
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Tip:

Depending on the ingredients you put inside, you can change and experiment with the spices for different accents in flavours.

COOKING METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ 355˚F. 
2. Carefully cut the pumpkin tops off and save them for later.
3. Next, using a spoon, hollow out the centres, removing the seeds. 
4. Rub the pumpkins inside and out with olive oil. Then, season the inside of each with sea salt, black pepper, cumin, dried oregano and a pinch of cinnamon. Finally, put one bay leaf in each hollow.
5. Bang the tops on, place pumpkins into a roasting tin and roast on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until soft.
6. Meanwhile, peel and slice the onion and garlic.
7. Put a frying pan over medium heat, add a splash of olive oil and chopped onion, then cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add the sliced garlic and cook further 5 minutes or until soft.
8. Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes. Add them to the softened onions. At the same time, add the olives, a pinch of salt and black pepper, red chilli flakes and sweet paprika. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.
9. In the meantime, rinse and drain the rice. Add into a pan and cover with a double amount of water. Also, pick the rosemary leaves and add them to the pan. Bring to boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the rice absorbs all the water.
10. Now, take the pumpkins from the oven, open the lids and carefully remove the bay leaves. Fill the roasted pumpkins with your aromatic rice mixture.
11. Finally, top with the lids and roast for 10 minutes to marry all the flavours together.

Tip:

I case you have some rice mixture leftover, store it in the fridge in an airtight container. It makes a fantastic breakfast or lunch when fried with eggs and with some green salad on the side.

As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us -> GET IN TOUCH.

BE HEALTHY AND WEALTHY!