Roasted pumpkin and chickpea salad, with add-ins of your choice!

Or as the non-Aussies would call it, "roasted squash salad, etc." :D

Salad seems to be all the rage these days in our health-conscious society, with "salad bars" popping up all over the place. You know, those places where you pay an exorbitant amount for the privilege of watching the hot guy (or girl) behind the counter toss a few ingredients of your choice into a mound of salad leaves.

It's obvious that those who possess a decent business mind are taking full advantage of our newfound preoccupation with rabbit food - which isn't to say that it's necessarily a bad thing. After all, a customised salad's around the same price as a kebab or a KFC meal...without the detracting factor of potential coronary artery disease. It's a win-win situation.



And yet, I can't help but feel that there are better ways to spend my money than on salad. I mean, it's...salad. It's, like, 98.5% ready-made by nature. I maintain that it's an aberration of my basic, human right to be charged for what is essentially Mother Earth's gift to me!

(Okay, that was a joke. Salad bar people, please don't hurt me.)

But, as my dad always says, there's no point in complaining; if you're unhappy with the way things are done, go do it yourself. Which is exactly what I did. I got off my lazy ass, threw away yesterday's kebab wrapper, and got down to work on makin' my own, customised salad. I decided on an age-old combination: roast pumpkin and chickpeas. To that, I added sweet corn kernels, chopped red onions, grilled and marinated red capsicum, and of course, salad leaves. The result? A healthy, nutritious and filling salad, made exactly the way I wanted, and for around half a price!

(There was the time factor - it took me almost 2 hours to put together this lunch. Oh, be quiet. You can't win at everything in life :D)

 

 Recipe: Roasted pumpkin and chickpea salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the roasted pumpkin:

1kg of pumpkin/squash

4 french shallots

4 small heads of garlic (I used purple-skinned garlic)

Salt

Cummin powder

For the salad (quantity up to you):

Cooked chickpeas (I used canned)

Sweet corn kernels (again, I used canned)

Grilled and marinated red capsicum (...canned...I mean, jarred...)

Red onions, chopped

Other add-ins of your choice! Chicken, avocado, the kitchen sink etc.

For the dressing:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 small red onion, finely diced

Method:

1. To make roasted pumpkin - preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius. Remove skin from pumpkin using a knife or vegetable peeler, then slice into bite-sized cubes. Place into baking dish along with peeled french shallots and garlic (also peeled). Season well with salt and cummin powder. Don't hesitate to really rub it in with your (clean!) fingers. Place into oven and roast for 1 hour.

2. To make dressing - pour the red wine vinegar over the finely diced onions and set aside.

3. Put your salad together.

4. Remove roasted pumpkin et al. from oven and allow to cool.

5. Put your roasted pumpkin+French shallots+garlic into your salad, pour in the dressing (including the onions), and toss it all around so everything's nicely...what's the adjective I'm looking for?...oh, you know, so everything's coated with the dressing.

6. Serve, and enjoy your (relatively cheap!) salad.