Warm Chorizo, Pumpkin and Corn Salad

 

 

Things that are for real:

• If you go to the grocery store straight after running 6 kilometers of interval sprints without showering and changing (and putting on mascara and lip gloss), you'll definitely bump into an old boy friend.
• If you finally give in and buy those cute boots you've been tormenting yourself with for weeks, they'll be on sale the very next week.
• If you plan a barbecue, it will rain, or be sweltering hot, or windy, or all three.
• If you wait until the movie crowds have all-but-gone so that you don't have to queue, you'll miss the movie all-together, it'll be long gone.
• And if you fry chorizo and throw it into a salad, that salad will be improved tenfold.

I know these things.




Warm Chorizo, Pumpkin and Corn Salad
slightly adapted from Delicious
Serves 4

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
2 red onions, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
100ml olive oil, plus extra to brush
250g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
4 corn cobs, husks removed
2 chorizos, sliced
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
120g watercress and  baby spinach leaves
100g shaved manchego cheese

Make the Salad:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a roasting pan with baking paper. Add the pumpkin and onion, then sprinkle over chilli flakes, cumin and oregano. Season, and drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, then toss to combine.

Roast for 20-25 minutes until tender and slightly charred. Add tomato for the final 5 minutes of cooking. Allow to cool slighty.

Brush a chargrill pan with oil and heat over high heat. Add corn and cook, turning, for 10 minutes or until slightly charred. Slice the kernels from cobs and place in a bowl.

Heat 1 tablspoons of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chorizo and cook, turning, for 3-4 minutes until slightly charred. Transfer chorizo to a plate, reserving the oil in pan.

Add the pumpkin, onion, tomato, watercress and cheese to the corn, then toss to combine. Drizzle with the dressing, then serve.

Make the Dressing:

Combine the vinegar, reserved pan oil and remaining 2 tablespoons of the oil in a bowl, then season.