Chef's Recipes

Poached pumpkin with labne and walnut praline

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for poached pumpkin with labne and walnut praline by Rumi in Melbourne.

  • 45 mins preparation
  • 45 mins cooking plus draining, cooling
  • Serves 6
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Poached pumpkin with labne and walnut praline
“I recently had an amazing dinner at Rumi in Brunswick, finishing with a pumpkin dessert that defied expectations. I was wondering whether the good people there would let me in on the secrets of its creation.”
Daniel Dekok, Richmond, Vic
To request a recipe, write to Fare Exchange, , GPO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW 2001, or email us. All requests should include the restaurant’s name and address or business card, as well as your name and address.
You’ll need to begin this recipe a day ahead.

Ingredients

  • 500 gm raw sugar
  • 3 each cardamom pods and cloves
  • ½ cinnamon quill
  • ½ butternut pumpkin (about 500gm), seeds removed, cut into 1cm-thick half-rounds
  • To serve: pepitas
Labne
  • 300 gm Greek-style yoghurt
Walnut and pepita praline
  • 500 gm walnuts
  • 40 gm pepitas
  • 150 gm caster sugar
  • For greasing: vegetable oil

Method

Main
  • 1
    For labne, place yoghurt in a muslin-lined sieve over a bowl, pull muslin together, tie to enclose and refrigerate to drain (overnight; discard liquid).
  • 2
    For walnut and pepita praline, combine walnuts, pepitas and 2 tsp salt in a bowl and set aside. Heat a saucepan over medium heat until a little sugar scattered in pan starts to melt; if it smokes, reduce heat. Scatter one-third of the sugar evenly in pan and cook without stirring until light caramel (4-5 minutes). Stir, scatter with half the remaining sugar, cook until caramel (2-3 minutes), stir, scatter with remaining sugar and cook until caramel (3-4 minutes). Add walnut mixture, stir with an oiled spoon to coat, spread on an oiled tray and set aside to cool. Break into pieces and process in a food processor until coarsely ground. Praline will keep stored in an airtight container for a week.
  • 3
    Stir sugar, 1 tsp sea salt and 600ml water in a wide saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, add spices and simmer to infuse (5 minutes). Add pumpkin, cover closely with a round of baking paper, reduce heat to low and simmer until just cooked through (25-35 minutes), then set aside to cool in syrup. Serve pumpkin, syrup and a quenelle of labne scattered with praline and pepitas.

Notes

This recipe is from the October 2012 issue of .

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