We've teamed up with the amazing Em from Em's Food for Friends to bring you some amazing seasonal recipe inspirations. Em is passionate about all things food and this bruschetta is so simple you'll be dishing it up most weeks!!
A perfect way to welcome the pumpkin harvest. A delicious, easy dinner or lunch that’s jam packed with flavour and ready in a flash.
Just remember you can always mix it up and use different herbs; coriander, purple basil or marjoram would be great in this dish as well.
Enjoy and make sure you post your creations on social so we can all share!! #YFC&ME
Roast Pumpkin & Tomato Bruschetta By Em
Makes approximately 12 toasts
Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/3 of a Sciberras Fresh Jap Pumpkin, cut into 4 wedges with skin on
1 tsp of fresh oregano
1 Bacco’s Bakery Ciabatta loaf, sliced lengthways and cut into triangles
2 punnets of Goldenfield Mini Heirloom Tomatoes, sliced
1/2 a bunch of Organic Fresh Basil, leaves removed and stalks discarded
2 cloves of Spicy Creek Garlic, peeled
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
2 tbs of Blushing Blueberries Lemon Infused Olive Oil
2 tbs of River Flats Caramelised Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan
Sea salt and Cracked Pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Method
Place the pumpkin wedges, skin side down in a lined baking tray and drizzle with a little Extra
Virgin Olive Oil, sprinkle with the dried oregano and season with salt and pepper. Bake it in the
oven for approximately 30 minutes or until golden and tender. Remove from the oven and allow
to cool.
Place the sliced tomatoes in a strainer over a bowl and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt. Allow
to stand while the pumpkin is cooking and give the tomatoes a light squeeze to extract some of
the juice.
Take the larger basil leaves (reserving the baby leaves for garnish) and give them a rough chop
before placing them in a mortar and pestle with a pinch of salt and one roughly chopped garlic
clove. Give it a really good pounding until really mashed and then pour in the Lemon Infused
Olive Oil. Stir to combine and add the tomato juice and a good squeeze of lemon.
Heat a BBQ grill or griddle pan to nice and hot and toast the Ciabatta wedges, flesh side down
until nice and smokey (there is no need to toast the crust). Use one of the garlic cloves to rub the
toasted bread and don’t be shy, really give it a good rub to get the flavour of the garlic into the
bread.
To assemble the bruschetta, remove the skin from the pumpkin and roughly mash with the back
of a fork. Spread a generous layer on each wedge of Ciabatta. Place the toasts on a platter and
divide the tomatoes over the top, not being too careful as to how it looks. Drizzle the basil oil and
the caramelised balsamic vinegar over and around the bruschetta before scattering over the
toasted pine nuts and chilli flakes. Finish the dish with grated lemon zest, freshly grated
parmesan, the remaining baby basil leaves and a good sprinkling of cracked pepper.
