Spiced butter bean stuffed roast pumpkin
SERVES 8 PREP + COOK TIME 2 HOURS (+ STANDING TIME)
1 x 3.4kg whole pumpkin
1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2¼ teaspoons ground cumin
180g sourdough bread, torn into small chunks
50g butter
1 medium (170g) red onion, sliced thinly 3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
400g can butter beans, drained, rinsed ¼ cup (40g) dried currants
200g fetta
PIQUILLO SAUCE
285g jar piquillo peppers, drained, patted dry
¾ cup (180g) sour cream
1 Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fanforced). Line a large oven tray with baking paper.
2 Using a small sharp knife, cut a 10cm round around the stalk from the top of the pumpkin. Use a spoon as a lever to ease the top out. Cut pumpkin flesh from the top piece of pumpkin, keeping this ‘lid’ intact; chop pumpkin flesh finely. Remove seeds and pulpy flesh from inside pumpkin; reserve seeds and discard pulp.
3 Toss seeds in 2 teaspoons oil and ¼ teaspoon of the ground cumin. Season. 4 Place sourdough chunks and pumpkin seeds, side-by-side, on a large oven tray; drizzle sourdough with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until sourdough is golden around edges and crisp; cool.
5 Meanwhile, melt butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat; cook onion and chopped pumpkin, stirring, for 10 minutes or until starting to soften. Add garlic, remaining cumin and the chilli flakes; cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes or until caramelised. Transfer onion mixture to a large heatproof bowl. 6 Add toasted sourdough, beans, currants and half the fetta to the onion mixture. When cool enough to handle, mix well with your hands, scrunching as you go to create a chunky but combined stuffing mixture. Season generously. 7 Fill pumpkin cavity with bread stuffing, pressing down as you go to compact it; it should be quite firmly packed in. Place a small piece of foil directly over open surface of the pumpkin. Transfer pumpkin to the lined tray; roast for 50 minutes. Add pumpkin top to tray; roast for a further 40 minutes or until pumpkin is tender and centre of stuffing is hot.
8 PIQUILLO SAUCE Meanwhile, blend or process ingredients until smooth. Season; refrigerate until required. (Makes 1¾ cups.)
9 Transfer the pumpkin to a platter or large plate; top with the ‘lid’. Stand pumpkin for 10 minutes; serve with sauce, remaining fetta and crisp seeds. Not suitable to freeze.