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Delicious and simple arugula salad with roasted pumpkin and lentils. Serve with a spicy red pepper dressing.
Arugula salad with roasted pumpkin
Yes, fall is here again. That is my cue to go wild with pumpkin. I just can’t get enough of it. From pumpkin for breakfast to pumpkin pie to pumpkin for dinner and yes, even in coffee (pumpkin spice latte!). So this arugula salad with roasted pumpkin, is another one of my favorites!
To make this roasted pumpkin arugula salad, you will need the following ingredients (see recipe card for full quantities)
- Arugula – you can use another type of lettuce here if you like
- Pumpkin – any kind of pumpkin or squash will work. I made my life easy this time and went with pre-cut.
- Lentils – I used canned ones.
- Spring onion – can be replaced with, for instance, finely chopped red onion if you like it better
- sesame seeds
Fall
I love fall… It’s that promising smell in the air that heralds a change in the weather. Leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping, and winter is slowly but surely approaching. I also love fall because of the amazing amount of wonderful ingredients available to us then, and pumpkin is one of the most prominent of them.
You don’t necessarily need to wait for fall to start using pumpkin, as you can find it year round these days. But it will always remain a fall favorite for me!
Roasting the pumpkin
I used roasted pumpkin in the arugula salad. Personally, I think this is the best way to eat pumpkin, because you lose a lot of the flavor when you cook it. If you don’t feel like waiting for it to roast (which takes about 20 minutes), you can boil it if you like, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it.
It’s just tastier if you roast it first and the flavors are a bit more intense because of the roasting. Also keep in mind that the weight of the pumpkin drops dramatically when you roast it. An 800g pumpkin is about 50% less after roasting. Good to keep in mind if you’re planning to serve this to a crowd.
Variations
I didn’t use it here but the arugula salad with roasted pumpkin would work brilliantly with something like feta cheese or blue cheese as an addition. Except for the honey used this is actually a vegan dish. You can easily change it to fully vegan by leaving the honey out and replacing this with maple syrup.
Arugula salad with roasted pumpkin
Ingredients
- 800 g pumpkin clean weight, diced
- Olive oil for sprinkling
- 300 gr lentils
- 75 g arugula
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds toasted
- 3 spring onions sliced
Dressing
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 red pepper seeded and finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
Titel
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Clean and slice the pumpkin and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for about 20 minutes. Shake the pan occasionally. Rinse and drain the lentils.
- Combine the dressing ingredients and mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the arugula on a flat plate and top with the roasted pumpkin and lentils. Drizzle with dressing and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
