Here is a very easy recipe for a dish with tangy and oriental notes that combines both sweetness and freshness, for a tasty transition between summer and autumn.
Eat this dish as a main course, or serve it as a side dish with white meat or fish.
Quinoa salad, roasted squash, cream cheese, pomegranate, spices & seeds
Ingredients
- 1 small butternut squash
- 150 g quinoa or cereal mix (e.g. bulgur, split peas & quinoa)
- 80-100 g fresh sheep’s cheese or feta
- ¼ to ½ pomegranate
- 1 tbsp sumac
- A few sprigs of thyme
- A few sprigs of rosemary
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- A handful of walnuts
- 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- A drizzle of olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- First prepare the butternut squash. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Rinse the squash, cut it in half lengthwise, and with a spoon and knife remove the seeds.
- Then slit the squash with the tip of a sharp knife and cut a grid pattern by sticking the knife in about 0.5 cm. Brush the two halves of the squash with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with a little thyme and rosemary and add one or two sprigs of thyme and rosemary on each half.
- Cover a dish with baking paper, place the two squash halves, flesh side up.
- Bake for about 40 minutes. Keep an eye on the cooking: when you can easily stick the tip of a knife into the squash, you can stop cooking.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa or cereal mixture according to the time indicated (usually between 15 and 25 minutes).
- Cut the cheese into small cubes.
- Remove the seeds from the pomegranate half.
- Once the squash is cooked, cut it roughly into medium-sized pieces. You can either keep the skin on, or lightly scrape the flesh to loosen it from the skin.
- In a large dish, first pour the quinoa (or cereal mixture). Add the squash and cheese pieces, and the pomegranate seeds.
- Season with lemon juice, sumac, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Then add the pumpkin seeds and nuts. Then serve hot!
Notes
To enhance the sweetness and saltiness, you can add a little honey or pomegranate molasses. Feel free to add sumac if you want to bring out the tangy notes of this dish even more.
For a more summery version, you can try this recipe by replacing the squash with eggplant.
You can also replace the pomegranate with cranberries or barberries.