Last year I went on holiday to Morocco, I had been forewarned that I would get pretty sick of the food after about a week, but having tried my hand at a few Moroccan dishes in the past I decided that that would not be the case. Sadly, I was sorely disappointed to find that after about a week I was indeed sick of tagines and a meat and bread heavy diet and all I wanted in the world was a bit of salad.
First I want to state, I am a person that feels a lot better with regular greenery in my diet, second I believe that restaurant food and home cooked meals in Morocco are two very different buckets of fish. This brings me to a book I got for Christmas many years ago, A Month in Marrakesh by Andy Harris which perked my initial interest in Moroccan food and made me believe I would love everything I ate there. The difference however is that a large section of the book is dedicated to simple little salads and side dishes that you would serve along side the main meal such as a tagine (the part I felt like was missing in the restaurant food).
Although the tagines and other main meals in the book are fantastic, I now bring your attention to a fantastic little way to roast a pumpkin; thinly sliced into half moons and coated in spices and olive oil.
Roast Pumpkin Salad
Ingredients
- 500 g Butternut pumpkin
- 1 tsp Dried mint
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp Ground dried ginger
- 1/2 tsp Dried chilli flakes
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel the pumpkin, half it and then remove the seeds. Slice into thin half moons.
- Add the spices to a mortar and pestle and pound them to a rough powder.
- Add the olive oil to the mortar and mix.
- Coat the pumpkin pieces in the spice mix well (using your hands is quite effective here) and lay them on a baking tray, trying not to let them overlap.
- Roast for about 20 minutes or until the the pumpkin is tender and browned around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate.
- Drizzle with a quality olive oil before serving.
The colourfuland spicy accompaniment to my necessarily plain meat course tonight. Thanks!