Pumpkin with sweetcorn salsa, feta & pumpkin seeds

March 3, 2019

We had a Sunday night with some time to spare so decided to brave a double Ottolenghi meal - roasted cauliflower, grape & cheddar salad and this pumpkin dish. (We were actually supposed to make a different pumpkin dish from Simple, but I stuffed up the shopping list completely, so we ended up with this instead.) 

It's easy enough to make - the charring of the corn wasn't as straightforward as I'd imagined, but that was the only slight complication. I'm not sure of the best way to get a good char on a cob of corn - we tried the frying pan, but it wasn't super effective. Suggestions welcome. Every other step is super easy though, and the the pumpkin roasting complemented our cauliflower cooking as well. The results are delightful - sweet pumpkin with a zingy, spicy corn salsa and some creamy dollops of salty feta - an excellent combination. We'll add it to our regular rotation (once we try the pumpkin, lentil and dolcelatte recipe we were aiming for this time).

Pumpkin with sweetcorn salsa, feta & pumpkin seeds
(slightly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple)

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into 3cm wedges.
75ml olive oil
2 corn cobs, husks removed and strings stripped off
1 large red chilli, seeded and finely diced
3 limes - zest and juice
small bunch coriander
a few stems of mint leaves
30g pumpkin seeds, toasted
50g feta, crumbled
salt and pepper


Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Mix the pumpkin with 2 tablespoons of the oil plus lots of salt and pepper. Spread the pumpkin wedges out on a large baking tray and roast for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Char the corn as best you can - Ottolenghi uses a chargrill, we tried it in our cast iron frying pan over high heat. The aim is to blacken the corn kernels up a bit - it'll take 10 minutes or so.

Once the corn is cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off the cob and separate them all. Stir them together with the chilli, lime zest and juice, the rest of the olive oil, the mint, the coriander and some more salt. Mix well.

Lay the pumpkin wedges out on a plate, spoon the salsa on top along with the pumpkin seeds and the feta.