This hearty roasted pumpkin panzanella is sure to please everyone at the dinner table. Grilled bread, roasted red onions, fresh greens, and crunchy apple round out this delicious fall meal.
A maple syrup and apple cider vinaigrette pairs nicely with the savory roasted pumpkin and red onions in this autumnal bread salad.
Tips
- Be sure to use a sugar pumpkin, like the ones used to make pumpkin pie, not a decorative pumpkin.
- Use a fresh, crisp apple. I like Honey Crisp, Macintosh, or Cortland apples for this recipe.
- If you don’t want to use kale, you can replace it with another green, such as baby spinach or arugula. Because these greens are more tender than kale, skip the step of rubbing them with a little salt and add the greens during the last part of the salad assembly.
Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients for the roasted pumpkin panzanella and the apple cider vinaigrette.
Vinaigrette Ingredients
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Panzanella Ingredients
- 6 cups sugar pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 2 medium sized red onions, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 5 tablespoons olive oil (divided into 3 and 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
- Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 3 1-inch-thick slices of round crusty bread (such as sourdough)
- 2 cups kale, stems removed and chopped into small pieces
- 1 cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 large apple
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Add the pumpkin, onion and thyme to a large bowl. Add three tablespoons of olive oil and toss everything to coat the pumpkin and onions with oil. Add a little salt and pepper and toss again.
Spread the pumpkin and onion pieces out over a large baking sheet. Bake them in the oven until the pumpkin pieces are tender when poked with a fork (about 25 minutes).
While the pumpkin is roasting, make the vinaigrette, then grill the bread.
In a small bowl, add the vinegar, mustard, and maple syrup. Whisk them to blend together. Add the oil and whisk until the mixture is emulsified. Whisk in a little salt and pepper. Set the vinaigrette aside.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet large enough to fit the slices of bread in a single layer. Turn on the heat to medium. Add the bread slices and cook them until the bottom sides are golden brown and crisp (about 5 minutes). Turn the bread over and lightly grill the other side (about 2 minutes). Move the bread to a plate and lightly salt both sides.
Put the kale in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle a couple pinches of salt over them and rub them with your fingers a little, massaging the kale to make it a little more tender.
Tear the bread into bite-size pieces (1-inch to 1 1/2-inches) and add them to the bowl.
Add the vinaigrette to the bowl and stir everything together, giving the kale and bread a few minutes to absorb some of the dressing before adding the other ingredients.
Add the pumpkin and red onion to the bowl. Add the parsley.
Cut the apple into small pieces and add them to the bowl. Toss everything together. Let it sit for about 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times to distribute the vinaigrette. Just before serving, taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
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