Roast Pumpkin, Lentils and Goat’s Cheese

This is a really delicious, healthy dish that can be served as a main course with a sharp green salad or as a generous side that would complement any meat or poultry dish. It is very easy to make and looks beautiful served on a large platter, ready for sharing.
If you don’t have pumpkin on hand, you can use sweet potato as an alternative.

Serves 4

2 small or 1 large pumpkin, de-seeded and cut into large wedges
Olive oil for roasting
Fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper

1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed with a dash or 2 of ground cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it!)

1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
2 bay leaves
10 oz lentils
4-6 oz soft goat’s cheese
1 bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375

Spread out the pumpkin wedges onto a roasting tin and pour over a generous amount of olive oil, just to coat each piece of pumpkin. Season this mixture generously with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender and beginning to caramelize at the edges.

Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat and cook half the spring onion, together with the garlic, for about 5 minutes, until soft, add the cumin, smoked paprika and chili flakes, the tomato puree and bay leaves and cook for a minute until aromatic. 

In a separate pan, gently boil the lentils in a ½ gallon of water add pepper to taste. 15-20 minutes until the lentils are tender. Discard the bay leaves and check the seasoning.

To assemble: Spread the pumpkin wedges over a pretty platter and top with the spicy lentils and crumble over the goat’s cheese. Sprinkle over the remaining spring onion and chopped coriander.