Pumpkin, Sage & Parmesan Gratin

garden sage

I don’t know about you but the ingredients in this recipe make me drool. It is just my kind of dish. I saw it in an article in BBC Good Food, entitled Pick of the Month by Gregg Wallace, co-presenter of BBC 2’s Master Chef Goes Large and I knew I was going to love it.  But even though pumpkin is available everywhere in Istanbul right now, sage isn’t! I have had to contain myself till we came to Assos where thanks to the now sadly defunct English Gardens, we have a flourishing sage bush in our garden. Sage, or adaçay, is generally used as an infusion here and drunk in the little tea glasses with a slice of lemon.

with rosemary and lavender

So here we are for the weeklong bayram holiday in our house in the ancient village of Assos. Daughter No 1 is here and friend Frances from Selçuk which is close to Efes/Ephesus. Frances arrived bearing a little pumpkin/balkabak – to my  initial horror, I saw it was whole, unlike the ones in Istanbul which are all cut up and ready to go. I really thought I would have to take a saw to it but to my surprise, a sharp kitchen knife was enough to cut it in half without undue sweat and then into chunks. Then imagine my pleasure in going out into the garden wielding a pair of scissors in order to cut some sage leaves. We used olive oil from Frances’ own olive grove which lies in the hills above Selçuk. As for the parmesan, I had the foresight to bring some with me from Istanbul as the bakkal or local village shop, doesn’t run to exotic things like that!

Ingredients for Pumpkin, Sage & Parmesan Gratin

Serves 4 as a ‘delicious substantial side dish or a great veggie main course’

1kg/2lb 4oz pumpkin (or winter squash), peeled, deseeded and chopped into large chunks

3 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Small bunch sage, roughly chopped

142 m pot double cream

50g/2oz parmesan, grated

slicing, peeling, deseeding, chopping

........to get this

Method

§  Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. In a large gratin dish, toss the pumpkin with the olive oil, garlic and sage, plus pepper and salt. Roast for 40 minutes till soft. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and increase the heat to 220C/fan 200C, gas 7.

§  Drizzle the cream over and scatter on the cheese. Return to the oven for 20 minutes until bubbling and golden. Serve on its own or with the Sunday roast.

set for the oven

                                                                              Tips

I didn’t use the cream as I thought it would be just too rich. But I don’t doubt that it’s probably a yummy addition!

ready to serve!

                 
             Only the front half has parmesan on it as two of our party wanted it plain!