This roasted pumpkin salad recipe showcases my favorite a salad building technique. An ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ salad is just that, a salad whose purpose in life is to use up leftovers from the fridge and be supplemented by some pantry staples.
But while I get the ‘everything but’ bit, I prefer a more considered approach to a kitchen sink salad. My version is a hearty salad that is packed with flavour. And ingredients can be swapped in and out to reflect any cuisine you are channeling for the meal you’re planning.
It’s an easy style of salad to make when you need to feed a large group. It has the added benefit of being substantial enough to be offered as a meatless main to any vegetarian or vegan guests. Then it’s only a matter of negotiating over the inclusion or exclusion of the goat’s cheese with this roasted pumpkin salad recipe.
This salad comes with some necessary prep time but each step is a simple everyday cooking task. And you can break the preparation the components over two days. I actually prefer to prepare all the elements of the salad the day before I plan to serve it. I layer the components in a large plastic storage box, with the grain and pasta soaking up the dressing on the bottom of the box. The more delicate ingredients form the top layers.
This roasted pumpkin salad does have a tendency to end up larger than originally intended. It can be a bit challenging to nail down the exact proportions for each component to feed the size of your group. But the good news is that this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day. I make if for a weekend gathering and plan my next week’s dinners to use up the leftovers. Typically my leftover ‘kitchen sink’ salad includes some grilled chicken, lamb or beef, topped with a quick yoghurt sauce.
Kitchen sink salad ingredients
My basic template for this style of kitchen sink salad includes:
- A base grain or carbohydrate (freekeh)
- Another grain (wild rice)
- Sauteed vegetables, particularly alliums (shallots and garlic)
- A fresh, frozen or tinned legume (edamame)
- A roasted vegetable (pumpkin)
- Fresh vegetables (yellow capsicum)
- Sour and/or salty flavour bombs (sour currants, goat’s cheese)
- A leafy green (rocket)
- A crunchy element (smoked almonds)
- Fresh herbs
- A vinaigrette dressing
Through making multiple versions of a kitchen sink salad, I’ve found that this combination of ingredients results in a flavorful, well-balanced salad that keeps my guests going back for seconds. Funnily enough everyone offers to take the leftovers home!
But don’t be pedantic even if that’s how I sound. Any of the ingredient category can be left out or swapped for something entirely different.
When I was taking the photos for this recipe, I had some of my Quick Red Onion Pickles in the fridge so I topped the salad with these pink pops of pickle as an after thought.
Dressing ingredients
It can be challenging to get chopped herbs evenly distributed through a salad. And with a kitchen sink salad you don’t want all the herbs clumped together or sitting on top looking pretty. You want an even distribution through the salad. The best way to achieve this is by adding the herbs to the dressing.
For this kitchen sink pumpkin salad my flavour profile is pretty classic so I have stuck with my favourite flat leaf or Italian parsley and garlic chives.
Make ahead of your next BBQ!
This kitchen sink salad recipe is perfect to help you ahead of your next big BBQ event. It can take the place of two or three side dishes. I usually serve it alongside my Brown Paper Bag Ribs.
Getting this salad done ahead of time makes the day of your BBQ so much more relaxed. I prepare all the elements and layer them into a large, sealed plastic container and refrigerate overnight. Specifically, with this kitchen sink pumpkin salad, I layer in the following bottom-up order:
- cooked freekeh, cooked wild rice, sauteed shallots and garlic combined with the dressing
- Capsicum and edamame
- Currants and almonds
- Rocket leaves
Don’t add goat’s cheese at this stage. And I set aside 1/3 of the pumpkin, currants, capsicum, edamame, pickled onions and almonds to use to finish the salad when plating up. On the day, it’s just a matter of tossing all the ingredients together and putting them in a serving bowl or on a platter. I then top it with the goat’s cheese and the extra ingredients you set aside.
Pumpkin 'Kitchen Sink' Salad
Equipment
- Rice cooker (optional)
- Colander
Ingredients
Salad ingredients:
- 500g-700g pumpkin (Kent, Queensland Blue, or Butternut)
- 1 cup freekeh
- ½ cup wild rice
- 1-2 large shallots
- 2 large garlic cloves
- ½ cup currants
- 150 ml apple cider vinegar
- 1 yellow or red capsicum
- 100 g frozen shelled edamame
- 100 g fresh goats cheese
- 1-2 cups rocket leaves
- 60 g smoked almonds
Dressing ingredients:
- 100 ml reserved currant vinegar
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup snipped chives
- 1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon honey
- sea salt
- white pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven
- Preheat oven to 200°C /180°C fan forced.
Wild rice
- Bring at least three litres of salted water to a boil in a large pot.
- Add wild rice, stirring occasionally to stop rice sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Continue to boil on a medium heat until at least half of the grains have burst open (20-30 minutes).
- Boil the kettle, as you may need to top up the water.
- Drain the cooked rice in a colander and rinse with cold water.
Freekeh
- Freekeh can be boiled in a large pot of water, using the method above for the wild rice.
- I use a rice cooker and follow the ratios for brown rice (1 cup freekeh to 2 cups water).
- And be sure to rinse the freekeh before adding to the rice cooker.
- Once the rice cooker is finished, stir to separate the grains, and leave to steam for 10 minutes.
- Then remove from rice cooker and leave to cool.
Pumpkin
- Scoop out the seeds of the pumpkin.
- If roasting with the peel on, wash the peel and pat dry. Otherwise, remove the peel.
- Cut into wedges and place on a baking paper lined baking tray.
- Drizzle with olive oil and rub over the pumpkin.
- Roast at 200°C/180°C fan forced until a fork can easily pass through the pumpkin.
- The time will depend on the size of your pumpkin pieces. I keep checking as overcooked pumpkin turns to mush very quickly.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool.
Sour currants
- Bring vinegar to a boil in a small pot or in the microwave.
- Add currants and set aside for 15-20 minutes.
- Strain the currants and be sure to keep the strained off vinegar for the dressing.
Shallot and garlic
- Peel and chop the shallot into a fine dice.
- Heat a small frying pan on medium low, adding some olive oil.
- Add the chopped shallot and crushed garlic cloves.
- Sauté until the shallots are translucent, remove from heat and cool.
Herb dressing
- Wash herbs and spin in a salad spinner or dry between paper towels.
- Snip chives and chop parsley.
- Make dressing either whisking in a bowl or using a jar with a lid.
- Add 100ml of the reserved vinegar from the sour currants, the olive oil and honey.
- Whisk/shake to emulsify.
- Add herbs and whisk/shake again.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Prep other ingredients
- Chop capsicum into small dice.
- Cut roasted pumpkin into 2–3cm cubes.
- Place frozen edamame in a small bowl and cover with cold water, drain once defrosted.
- Lightly chop smoked almonds.
- Wash and pick through rocket leaves.
- Leave goats cheese in fridge until assembling salad.
Assemble salad
- If making the salad in advance, assemble into a container in layers, refrigerate, and toss just before serving.
- Set aside 1/3 of the pumpkin, currants, capsicum, edamame, pickled onions and almonds to use to finish the salad when plating.
- Start layering in container. Add rice, freekeh, shallots and garlic and most of the dressing and toss. The grains should be well coated, add more dressing if needed.
- Layer pumpkin, capsicum, edamame, currants, pickled onions and rocket on top of the grains.
- Refrigerate a couple hours or overnight to allow the grains to absorb the dressing.
- Just before serving toss the salad and plate onto a large platter or bowl.
- Top with reserved pumpkin, currants, capsicum, edamame, and almonds.
- Crumble over goats cheese.
Just before you cook with abandon…
- Cooked freekeh, cooked wild rice, sauteed shallots and garlic combined with the dressing
- Capsicum and edamame
- Currants and almonds
- Rocket leaves
2 Responses
Made a version of this for a large crowd of hungry golfers on the weekend and it was devoured. I will be making this regularly I am sure.
Made this three times already!! So scrumptious, filling, and my vegan friends love it so much (of course, without the goats cheese)