Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil, and Goat Cheese Salad

Bon Appétit (October 2009)

 
We needed a pumpkin last night to make this recipe, so we went to pick one up at our local supermarket. 

Unfortunately, there were only two kinds of pumpkins left: massive orbs too heavy to carry home and daintier gourds already decorated for Halloween.

So we strode up to counter with our pumpkin, which was painted with a cute clown face and topped with a jaunty, bright red firefighter hat. 

The conversation went something like this:

Checker:  "Oh that's a nice pumpkin."

Us:  "Thank you."

Checker: "You going to put it on your porch?"

Us: "Uh, no, actually we're going to cook it."

Checker (looking aghast):  "YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT?!"

Us: "We're going to cook it for a dish that we're making."

Checker: "Why would you DO THAT?"

Us (mumbling): "For a salad we're making."

And that is what we did.

Pumpkin, lentils and goat cheese sounded, to us, like the perfect combination for an autumn salad. And with Halloween only days away, we thought that this sounded like a great way to use un-massacred pumpkins rather than throwing them away.

There are a few ingredients here making their first appearance on The Bitten Word.  We have actually never cooked with pumpkin. In this recipe, the gourd is peeled, seeded, diced, tossed with spices and then roasted. 

And this is also our first time cooking lentils, which we like to eat but never make. In fact, the lentils were one of the items that we really drew us to this recipe. They sounded like the perfect add-in to a cold-weather salad.

For the arugula, we actually subbed in an Asian green called yokatta na.  Because, let's face it, yokatta na is tooooootally the new arugula.

Just kidding -- it's because we'd gotten a bunch of yokatta na from our CSA. It's a beautiful, leafy green with a slightly bitter taste. To counteract the slight bitterness, we added a teaspoon of sugar to the recipe's spice mixture. 

So after we had roasted the pumpkin, boiled the lentils, assembled the salad and sprinkled it all with goat cheese, we grabbed our forks and took a bite.

And it was ... lacking in flavor.

The combination of these ingredients, we were sure, would make for a big, bold salad.  The spiced pumpkin was essentially the exact same as our Fajita Sweet Potatoes, which we adore! And we were really hoping for the flavors of this Red Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, a hearty, delicious winter salad that we fell in love with last year.

But the pumpkin was bland. The lentils were fine. The oil and vinegar seemed to get lost.

So, we're sorry to say, this wasn't a the lust-worthy salad we were hoping for.

Maybe we should have just left our little painted firefighter pumpkin on the front porch after all...

Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil, and Goat Cheese Salad
Bon Appétit (October 2009)
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(This Photo: Bon Appétit)

8 SERVINGS

Ingredients

    •    3/4 cup French green lentils
    •    6 cups 1-inch pieces peeled seeded sugar pumpkin or butternut squash (from about one 2-pound whole pumpkin)
    •    3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
    •    1 teaspoon ground cumin
    •    1 teaspoon hot smoked Spanish paprika
    •    1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    •    4 cups baby arugula
    •    1 cup soft goat cheese, crumbled
    •    1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves
    •    1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Preparation

    •    Place lentils in small bowl. Cover with cold water and soak 10 minutes; drain.

    •    Cook lentils in boiling salted water until tender but firm, about 30 minutes. Drain lentils. Rinse under cold water, then drain.

    •    Preheat oven to 375°F. Place pumpkin in large bowl; toss with 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, paprika, and sea salt. Arrange pumpkin in single layer on baking sheet; roast 20 minutes. Turn pumpkin over. Roast until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool.

    •    Combine lentils, pumpkin, and oil from baking sheet with arugula, half of goat cheese, mint, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among plates; sprinkle remaining goat cheese over.

Comments

[chinkle]

Sadly, pumpkin has very little flavor. Even roasting, which concentrates flavors, doesn't really put enough oomph into it for me. At that point, it's really still just a vehicle for salt and oil (which isn't a bad thing).

Your recipe calls for "sugar pumpkin," and maybe that's the difference. I bet the salad would be nice with the butternut squash instead. :)

[LindsayC]

I made this with butternut squash the other night, and it must have made all the difference, because it was FABULOUS. Great spice, filling protein from the lentils, nice contrast from the creamy goat cheese (I get a local one, since I'm in Wisconsin).

The blandness of your salad could have also been because you didn't get a sugar pumpkin but instead got a smaller version of the big ones we cut up, which are totally bland and not good eating. Maybe?

[cinnamonquill]

It certainly sounds good, and looks good, but I'm surprised that it didn't taste the best. It's funny how sometimes I think the best combinations turn out disappointing, and vice versa.

[Jason Sandeman]

Thing is, the huge orb that you were cooking does not lend itself very well to culinary creations. What you are loking for is the sweeter variety, the one that is way smaller. When you get the canned pumpkin puree, that is what they make the stuff out of.

You can only go so far with the ingredients you have, which is why roasting the pumpkin first was a good move on your part to extract some flavor.

Overall, a good experience though?

[Frenchie]

This is not only a stunning salad, but it sounds absolutely delicious. I may have to make it with butternut squash or something a little more manageable, I am scared to go through the process of preparing my own pumpkin. Thanks for a great idea.

[Cristein :)]

Okee dokee. So I made this salad exactly as it said to tonight (but of course I added a bunch more spice, because I am middle eastern and I LOVE SPICE) and it came out pheEEeenominal. I made it with butternut squash for a halloween party my sister in law was having and it was a hit, simply because it was different than your average joe salad. It was a very "classy" "seasonal" change! Thanks for the post!

[Jason N. Lawrence]

Halloween pumpkins have no flavor. They're pretty much just for decoration. I think you would have had great success with kabocha, the green-skinned Japanese pumpkin available at most groceries these days. It would have gone well with your yokatta na, which is also Japanese.

[Zach @ The Bitten Word]

Thanks to everybody for your great suggestions about the pumpkin! Clearly we were using the wrong thing, and a decoration pumpkin is not the same as an eating pumpkin.

I'd love to try this salad again, with either a good pumpkin or a butternut squash. Maybe as a Thanksgiving first course?

[melpy]

In PA we have what is called a long neck pumpkin and we don't cook with the jack o lantern variety (those are for the cows to eat). I think this would also be delicious using yams. I love the caramelized look they get when roasted. I think the idea of a Thanksgiving first course is awesome. Great pictures even if it didn't turn out as tasty as it looks.