Pumpkin Pesto, Date and Ripe Chèvre Sandwich
They are finally back on my windowsill – colourful pumpkins in all shades, shapes and sizes! At the beginning of a new season I tend to hoard nature’s new produce like a squirrel. My excitement for the fruits and vegetables that I’ve been missing and looking forward to for months causes irrational behavior at the market. When I came home with enough pumpkin to feed a large Mediterranean family I thought it would be a good idea to purée one of them and make space on my crowded kitchen tops. I turned it into a pesto.
Author: Meikepeters/Photo credit to meikepeters.com
Ingredients
- Makes 3 sandwiches
- dark buns, cut in half, 3
- Sainte-Maure de Touraine affiné, sliced, 80g / 3 ounces
- (or any other aged Chèvre)
- dried dates, pitted, quartered, 3-4
- fresh thyme leaves, 1 tablespoon
- pumpkin seeds 1 tablespoon
- black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar
- For the pumpkin pesto
- Hokkaido (with skin) or butternut squash (peeled), cut into cubes, 350g / 12½ ounces
- pumpkin seeds 2 tablespoons
- olive oil 2 tablespoons
- freshly squeezed orange juice 1 tablespoon
- orange zest ¼ – ½ teaspoon
- fresh thyme leaves 1-2 teaspoons
- salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°c / 390°F (convection oven). Spread the pumpkin in a baking dish and fill the bottom with water (about 60ml ¼ cup). Wet a large piece of parchment paper, big enough to cover the baking dish and lay it on top of the pumpkin. Cook it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until tender but not mushy. Purée the pumpkin in a food processor, add the pumpkin seeds, olive oil, juice, zest, thyme and salt and purée until smooth. Season with orange, thyme and salt to taste.
- Spread the pumpkin pesto voluptuously on the bottom side of a bun, lay the Chèvre on top and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, dates, thyme and pepper. Enjoy!
