This delicious spring inspired recipe is the perfect light meal as the weather warms up and salads appear in your daily routine. With warm elements such as the baked pumpkin and crispy chickpeas and cool fresh lemon macadamia butter and feta to marry winter and summer.

I developed this recipe for Aus Macadamias, to celebrate the blossoming of the macadamias in Spring. We even got to shoot these recipes in a blossoming orchard in Alexs hometown, Alstonville. The smell of the flowering trees is just beautiful and if you have the chance to visit an orchard I highly recommend it.

If you weren’t aware, macadamias are a native nut to Australia, hence I absolutely love cooking with them. Not only are they really wholesome with a healthy fat profile and high smoke point (in the oil), but they are really creamy and have such a beautiful flavour. I use them to make plant based milk, vegan cheeses, sauces and dressings, desserts, and crunchy salad toppings.

Dukkah Baked Pumpkin with Lemon-Macadamia Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

5 wedges of Kent pumpkin (approx 1/4 of a whole pumpkin), cut into 3-4cm thick wedges

3 tsp macadamia oil

salt

1 tbsp dukkah

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup whole raw macadamias

1/2 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 cup red onion, finely sliced

1/4 cup macadamia almond feta (recipe from my cookbook, The Global Vegan)

1 1/2 cup sprouts (alfalfa, snow pea, or radish)

Handful of fresh dill

Sauce:

2 tbsp macadamia butter

1 tbsp water

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tsp macadamia oil

Pinch of salt

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced.

2. Place the pumpkin wedges on a lined baking tray and drizzle with 2 tsp of macadamia oil and 1/4 tsp of salt, and the dukkah. Place in the oven to bake for 45-50 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, add the chickpeas and macadamias to another lined baking tray. Top with 1 tsp of macadamia oil, maple syrup, thyme, fennel seeds, and a pinch of salt. Toss to coat and then place in the oven with the pumpkin to bake for 20 minutes.

4. Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl.

5. Smear the dressing on the plate, top with your dukkah baked pumpkin, sprouts, onion, herbs, baked chickpeas and macadamias and finish with crumbled vegan feta.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe! I can already see this one making an appearance on our Christmas lunch this year!

Elsa, xx