Nurture loved ones with a beautiful vegetarian spread.
SERVES 8
INGREDIENTS
- 40g butter (or ghee, coconut oil, or macadamia oil)
- 1 large red onion, finely chopped
- 1 small piece of ginger, crushed, grated, or finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 5–2kg butternut or Kent pumpkin, roughly chopped into small chunks
- 1 small handful of parsley, finely chopped (extra to serve)
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 4 spring onions, green part only, roughly chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 2 cups grated cheese or 1 cup nutritional yeast (see tip)
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Heat the butter in a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Fry the onion for 6–7 minutes, until fragrant and golden.
- Add the ginger, garlic, pumpkin, parsley, thyme, spring onion, salt, and stock.
Reduce the heat to medium–low and cook, covered, for 15–25 minutes, stirring frequently, until the pumpkin is cooked. The last time you stir, leave the lid off until most of the liquid evaporates. - Remove the pumpkin from the heat and mash it roughly into a chunky mash rather than a purée. Transfer to a 20 x 30cm baking dish and scatter the grated cheese over the top.
- Bake until golden-brown. Garnish with the extra parsley and serve immediately.
TIP : If making dairy-free, use coconut or macadamia oil and nutritional yeast options. You don’t want the pumpkin to stick to the bottom of the pan and burn before it cooks, so you’ll need a heavy-based saucepan or stockpot or a flameproof casserole dish.
This is an edited extract from Low Tox Life Food by Alexx Stuart, photography by Cath Muscat. Published by Murdoch Books RRP $36.99.
This recipe was originally published in Issue 26 – En Route to Aweventure.
