Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley – this autumn salad is perfect for a light but surprisingly filling lunch. It’s super delicious too!

Dear Autumn,

This is a love letter to you and it’s probably very obvious going through the next lines. I’m sorry that I despised you as a child and only gave all my love to summer, but I am glad that I truly appreciate now how wonderful and magical you really are. To make up for it, I’m dedicating this Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley recipe to you!

Yours truly,

Romy

If you haven’t figured yet: I’m all over autumn (or ‘fall’ if you’re from the US 😉). Shortening days aside – autumn gives me a feeling of settling down & enjoying the calmer times after a busy and intense summer. This year I can relate to that more than ever after working 2 full-time jobs throughout the summer (read more about that here!). So, autumn, I’ve been looking forward to you, you’re much valued and needed right now.

Fresh air, colourful leaves dancing in the wind, beautiful sunsets over the colour-kissed trees – a truly magical time of the year and I’m honestly stocked to have a bike this year and can’t wait to cycle around Richmond Park in the autumn sun.

Oh, and have I mentioned Halloween yet?! My favourite holiday – just after Christmas of course. I love the whole spookiness about the end of October, all the horror movie classics on TV and dressing up in awesome costumes, which is wonderfully creative and I’m all for the ‘all or nothing’ attitude!

If you’ve worked with me in the past, you might probably remember me entering the office as Avatar in 2014 (after 5 hours of makeup!) or Freddy Krueger in 2015 – complete with a scarred face and bald head (not to mention that I got up at 4am just to do the makeup before work!)

I somehow also feel the need to re-watch all Harry Potter movies in autumn – I think it must be because the movies used to come out in the cinema in autumn and this time of year simply reminds me a lot of going to see them as a teen in the cinema.

Did I promise too much when I said that autumn is a wonderful time? I don’t think so 😉

One thing I’m super excited about also, is all the seasonal food such as pumpkin, mushroom and apple (which you probably guess from the title, will be used in this recipe) I have to admit I go all out on the pumpkin recipes every year and I guess that’s absolutely fine – I’m a millennial after all and I think that explains it all 😉

It’s no different this year and with just recently leaving full-time work, my creative hat is pretty much on constantly and I have so many plans for seasonal recipes to test out. As I’ve only just gotten back from Singapore where it was 30+ degrees I was still feeling a little ‘in-between’ and felt the need to combine a refreshingly cold salad with autumnal foods – and that, in a nutshell, is how this recipe came about.

In my eyes, it’s turned out to be the perfect transition to say goodbye to summer and prepare you for all the autumn flavours and it perfectly pairs with a refreshingly bubbly Appletiser (which I love to add at any time of the year, let’s be honest!). Also: when having Appletiser in these beautiful champagne glasses I recently purchased, it really makes every meal feel special 😉

What you’ll need to make this Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley

Ingredients

Pumpkin (substitute with butternut squash if you don’t have access to pumpkins)
Extra virgin olive oil
Rocket
Pearl barley
Apple
Brown mushrooms
Pumpkin seeds
Tamari soy sauce
Walnut oil
Apple cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

How to make this Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley

Getting oven ready

Before doing anything else, you’ll want to preheat your oven to 220ºC.

Prepping your pumpkin

While you wait for the oven to heat up, you can prep your pumpkin (or butternut squash) by washing it, halving it half and removing the seeds. Then cut off cour thumb-sized pieces of pumpkin (including the skin) and set them to one side.

Now you can peel the rest of the pumpkin and cut it into bite-sized chunks. Once it’s all cut up, put the chunks in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt before roasting the chunks in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

How to cook your pearl barley

With the pumpkin roasting in the oven, you can move onto preparing your pearl barley. Firstly, give it all a quick wash before putting it in a saucepan with about 1 litre of boiling water and put the pan on medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes.

During this time, you’ll notice the barley grow in size as it soaks up the water, a bit like rice! Be sure to check on the barley every few minutes and add more water if necessary. Once the barley has doubled in size and is soft, drain it and set aside.

Cooking your mushrooms

Next up, wash and slice your mushrooms before frying them in a large pan with a splash of olive oil. Be sure to only fry them for 1-2 minutes on each side, otherwise, they’ll lose too much of their moisture and will shrink! Add a little salt and pepper until you’re happy with the flavour.

Once your shrooms are cooked, set them aside and put the four thumb-sized slices of pumpkin in their place. with a little more oil and salt and keep cooking them until they soften and brown. Once it’s cooked, set the pieces aside.

How to make your autumn dressing

Firstly, take a small jar and mix up the pumpkin seeds and tamari soy sauce and roast them in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1 Tbsp of walnut oil and 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a small glass.

Putting everything together

With all your ingredients cooked and ready, it’s time to put everything together to make your delicious salad!

Firstly, add a handful of rocket salad on each plate, before topping with the barley, mushrooms and roasted pumpkin chunks. Shred 1/4 of an apple on to each plate, add the fried pumpkin and pour over the walnut-vinegar dressing. Finish off the dish by sprinkling the roasted pumpkin seeds over the top.

You can even go a step further by pouring yourself a cold Appletiser 😉

This recipe is:

100% vegan
egg free
dairy free
wonderfully autumnal
perfect for an easy and healthy lunch
super easy to make