Orzo Salad with Roasted Pumpkin and Rocket Pesto

The autumn season brings favourites like root vegetables, dark green vegetables and delicious fruits to make crumbles with such as apples and pears. But let's be honest, pumpkins really hog the limelight in this season, especially in October. Though saying that, technically it is not autumn here on the island, but I am celebrating in spirit :)

A couple of weeks ago, I went to an Oktoberfest party and although I had a great time sampling the delicious beers (had my first pumpkin ale and I loved it), I was so excited that they served food too (much needed I think especially when drinking a fair amount). One of the highlights was a pasta salad with roasted pumpkins which was just so good that it inspired me to make it at home... And this is what I came up with.

The pasta I use here is called orzo. It is a bit like rice shaped pasta, although orzo actually means barley in Italian. Because of the little size, they don't take long to cook and actually the rest of the components for the salad is also very quick to make.

I cut the pumpkin into little cubes for quick roasting and also to kinda match the orzo. The pumpkin is seasoned with dried thyme, salt, black pepper and olive oil. 

Dressing the salad is rocket/arugula pesto which I just adore. The peppery-ness from the rocket leaves with the salty and nutty Parmesan cheese, and also the sharpness of lemon work beautifully with the sweetness from the pumpkin. Making the pesto itself is hardly any work... Everything is done in a food processor. Easy-peasy!

For a little crunch and texture, I sprinkled some sunflower seeds. This is a very easy and comforting autumnal salad and I hope you'll give this a go. 

Last but not least, I want to say thank you to everyone for the birthday messages, emails and tweets. They're very much appreciated. I was working on the actual birthday but I did have a nice time with friends afterwards. I made a new friend not a long time ago (who is also new to the island) and coincidentally we share the same birthday, so we went out for dinner with few more friends and the evening ended at a salsa bar where I discovered that perhaps a robot could salsa dance better that I did. 

The following day I hosted a small dinner with more friends and I served this orzo pasta salad among other things, and my friends loved it. I made a bigger amount than the recipe below and if you're fortunate enough to have leftovers, I suggest you have this for breakfast with fried egg and a good dollop of Nigella's spicy and addictive jumbo chilli sauce which help absorb last night's excesses.

Have a great one my friends!

Orzo Salad with Roasted Pumpkin and Rocket Pesto

500 gr orzo pasta

350 gr pumpkin, cut into little cubes

2 tsp dried thyme

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sunflower seeds

Fresh rocket leaves

For the pesto:

100 gr fresh rocket leaves

50 gr pine nuts

1 clove of garlic, peeled

Juice of 1 lemon

100 gr freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

On a sheet pan, spread the diced pumpkin on a single layer and sprinkle with dried thyme, salt, black pepper and olive oil. Give them a toss and bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 15 minutes or until they're fully cooked but still holding their shape.

In the meantime, cook the orzo in a big pot of salted boiling water according to the packet's instruction. Once cooked, drain and give the orzo a quick rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and also to get rid some of the extra starch which may cause the orzo to become sticky.  Transfer to a large bowl. 

To make the pesto sauce, in a food processor, add all the ingredients except for the EVOO. Blitz to mix for a few seconds and with the machine running, gradually stream the olive oil to the desired consistency. Season the pesto with salt and black pepper.

Toss the cooked orzo pasta with the pesto until each grain is well-coated. Taste to check if you need to add a bit more lemon juice, or perhaps a little more grated Parmesan or salt and pepper.  

Add the roasted pumpkin, sprinkle the sunflower seeds and mix again. If you're making this in advance, I would suggest adding the fresh rocket leaves just before serving to keep them fresh.