Spelt salad with pumpkin, rocket and Gorgonzola cheese

• 15 minutes to prepare • 30 minutes to cook • Serves 4

 

I ♥ You, Pumpkin

 

This is my favorite salad at the moment, and not only because I have and addiction problem to pumpkin.
The combination of hearty roasted pumpkin, creamy Gorgonzola cheese, and bitter rocket salad is absolutely unbeatable in salad form. For anyone.

To prepare it, I just tweeked a typical pumpkin salad and added my own bits to it.
I love the combo of these flavors: the sweetness of the roasted and almost caramelized pumpkin goes really well with the salty and creamy nuttiness of the cheese, and the peppery taste of the rocket.

Substantial in itself, it's a great BBQ salad, or accompanying some basic grilled chicken. Yum!

Here are ingredients for the 4-serving recipe:

280 g spelt
400 g fresh pumpkin
200 g Gorgonzola cheese
100 g rocket salad
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. Peel the pumpkin and cut it into slices
3. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and season with EVO oil, salt and freshly ground pepper
4. Cook the pumpkin at 200°C for about 20 minutes
5. Meanwhile, start preparing the spelt: add the grains to the pressure cooker, along with 1 liter of water and close the lid securely. Bring the cooker to high pressure, and begin timing. The spelt will need 15 minutes since now to be ready
6. Cut the Gorgonzola cheese into 2-cm cubes. Place them in a big salad bowl
7. Wash the rocket and place it in the salad bowl as well
8. When the pupkin is ready, cut it into cubes of about 3 cm side and place it in the salad bowl
9. Finally, after the 15-minutes cooking time of spelt grains has passed, let the pressure come down naturally. Once the pressure has dropped, open the lid and check if it is done. If it is, drain the spelt and drop cold water on it. Then, collect it up in the salad bowl
10. Before serving, add more EVO oil, freshly ground pepper and salt if needed...stir to mix and enjoy!

In the table below Nutrition Facts are detailed for this appetizer. Data is provided per serving.

Dear Great Pumpkin,
I am looking forward to your arrival on Halloween night.
I hope you will bring me lots of presents.
(Linus Van Pelt)