There is something special about enjoying a roast vegetable dish. The delicious depth of flavour that comes from them caramelising or browning is second to none. This hasselback pumpkin and lentil bake recipe is no exception.
What is hasselback and why do it? Hasselback is simply the process of slicing thin and even layers, but not cutting all the way through the vegetable. It is good if you want to add things into the vegetable, as well as being visually appealing. I personally just like that it kind of maintains the overall integrity of the vegetables shape, but it also easy to pull apart and serve when sharing a wonderful meal with family and friends.
Think of this pumpkin and lentil cake recipe and more as a guide. It is hugely adaptable to change, which is perfect when you are getting an amazing variety of vegetables coming in from our local producers. For example, this week we had pumpkin, but can easily be swapped out for potatoes or sweet potatoes. Any leafy green would work in this; spinach, kale, and every type of coloured rainbow chard!
Tomatoes was a lucky addition to this weeks bake, but its May now and unfortunately tomato season has reached its end. But why not experiment with whatever great goodies come your way in the vegetable box!
Legumes are another wonderful gift nature has provided. Lentils are high in dietary fibre, protein and iron, as well as many other essential vitamins and minerals. Isn’t it great knowing your eating things that taste good but are also good for you?!
Recipe for Hasselback Pumpkin and Lentil Bake
Prep time: 15 mins (excl. lentil soak time)
Cook time: 1 hour 40 mins
Instruments
Chopping board
Kitchen knife
Medium size bowl
Saucepan
Strainer
Baking dish
Ingredients
180g lentils, dried
1/4 large pumpkin
150g + of chard (or other leafy green)
200g tomatoes
1-2 garlic heads
1-2 onions
1 cup of white wine
1 large bunch thyme
1 bunch of sage
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
1. Soak lentils overnight, or at least 6 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius
3. Wash and remove seeds from pumpkin. Cut thin slices into the pumpkin, not all the way through. Quarter your onion(s) and cut your garlic head(s) in half. Place these in the oven dish with your thyme and sage. Drizzle with olive oil (ensuring all the pumpkin skin is covered) and season well with salt. Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour
4. While the pumpkin is roasting, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook your lentils for 15 minutes. Strain and set aside. Roughly cut your leafy greens
5. After the hour, remove the oven dish. Break off the leaves of the herbs back into the tray and remove the stems. Remove the garlic and push out the cloves from the skins into the dish.
6. Place the leafy greens, lentils, tomatoes and wine into the tray around the pumpkin.
7. Return back to the oven for a further 40 minutes
8. Serve as a complete dish or as a side with meat
The perfect dish for these cool autumn evenings. A real treat to the taste buds, and a great thing to serve if you have guests coming too.
If you’ve been reading a few of my recipes, you might have noticed I’m a huge advocate for cooking extra if you have the supplies. If you’re doing the work, why not just double the batch and do the job once?! But also, having healthy home-cooked food pre-prepared and ready to go in the fridge makes for the best lunches the next day.
Bon appétit.
