Servings
6
Prep time
Cook time
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small to medium sized
- butternut pumpkin
- 1 400g tin organic lentils, drained & rinsed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- A few sprigs thyme, leaves removed
- ½ cup baby spinach or other leafy greens, tightly packed
- ¼ cup polenta
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tbsp cashew cheese (optional)
- Kitchen twine
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Cut butternut in half lengthways. Place both pieces cut-side down onto a lined baking tray. Bake for about 2 hours, or until it is soft to the touch. Remove from oven, scoop out and discard the seeds. Scoop out some of the cooked pumpkin and place in a mixing bowl. You want to keep about 2cm of pumpkin inside the skin. Leave the pumpkin to cool down enough so that it can be handled at the stuffing stage.
- Add lentils to the bowl of cooked pumpkin and set aside.
- Place the oil, onion, garlic and thyme in a medium-sized saucepan. Sauté until onion is translucent.
- Add lentils, pumpkin and spinach and stir through until the spinach has wilted.
- Keep stirring, add the polenta and water, and continue to stir until the water is absorbed. Add the cashew cheese at this point if you are using it. It will make the polenta slightly creamy. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
- Cut a few pieces of kitchen twine long enough that you will be able to easily tie them around the pumpkin once it’s stuffed. Lay them out on a lined baking tray, place one half of the pumpkin over the string, making sure the string is evenly spaced out and in place where you will want to tie them.
- Spoon the lentil and polenta mix evenly into the pumpkin shell.
- Carefully place the other pumpkin half over the top, pat into place with your hands. Carefully tie the strings so they are tight but not cutting into the pumpkin skin. Trim off any extra string.
- Bake again for 20 mins at 180°C.
- Slice and serve, removing strings as you plate up. Serve with your favourite roasted veggies and fresh greens, with a dollop of cashew cheese or plant-based gravy.
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