Autumn veggies and poached eggs
The slightly bitter, tempting peppery leaves of radicchio make this crunchy, winter salad a pure joy to eat. Scattered with toasted hazelnuts, spiked with a touch of chilli, and generously doused in a vibrant homemade kale pesto, all that’s left to do is roast your earthy sweet delica pumpkin and poach your golden Burford Browns to your liking, then revel in a simple, seasonal supper, full of flavour and goodness.
Method
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC (fan.)
Prepare the delica pumpkin by cutting into wedges and scooping out the seeds. Place the wedges on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place into the preheated oven and roast for 35-40 minutes until tender and golden.
While the pumpkin is roasting, make the kale pesto. Place a large pan of water on to boil. When it is simmering, add the kale and garlic clove and allow it to soften for a couple of minutes. Then drain from the pan and squeeze out any excess moisture in the colander or sieve. Place the kale in a food processor along with the softened garlic, grated Parmesan, pine nuts, and olive oil. Blitz until it forms a smooth pesto – you can leave it chunkier if you like – check the seasoning and set aside.
Place a pan of water on to simmer, and then gently poach your eggs so the yolks are still soft and runny in the middle.
Now you are ready to assemble the salad. Take a large platter and arrange the roasted pumpkin and radicchio leaves. Drizzle over some olive oil, followed by the kale pesto. Then scatter with the finely chopped chilli, toasted hazelnuts, and sprigs of fresh dill. Serve each portion with a perfectly poached Burford brown egg and enjoy!
Ingredients
1 medium delica pumpkin
150g radicchio, leaves separated
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
4 Burford Brown eggs
50g blanched hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Fresh dill sprigs
For the kale pesto…
100g kale, tough stalks removed
1 garlic clove
25g Parmesan, finely grated
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted
200ml good olive oil