AUTUMN CELEBRATION MENU: BAKED PUMPKIN with RUCOLA and CAPERS

Going on with the orange theme, here's a very delicious and mouth-watering pumpkin recipe that I'd like to share with you today! 

  To be honest, this is my second attempt of making the dish and the whole first lot prepaired about a week ago went directly to garbage bin, boo! Sorry, not so enticing beginning;) but I just want to explain how that happened as this is such a rare (practically extraordinary) case in my kitchen which came to be both sad and fun:) Well, here can also be its own ups and downs, right? Probably it will help you avoid the same mistake (i wonder if there are more like me?;)

  Ok, here we go, my sincere confession: - the reason for such failure was wrong choice of pumpkin! I picked out a striped green one, zucchini-like appearance, as it seemed so attractive (my passion for design played a bad joke on me) and then followed the recipe, step by step. When ready, it was proudly served and, foretasting it to be as delicious as it looked like and smelled, the first bite has been made...
  We almost jumped up from unexpectedness - such a bitter stuff filled the whole mouth! That kind of pumpkin was purely decorative with absolutely inedible flesh! Now I, a bit more experienced 'pumpkin cook', know this! It was only sad about time spent and other products gone for nothing but I was not about to surrender at all! 

Since most of the species (appropriate for cooking size) in my present pumkin collection are of green color, I consulted with some 'pumpkin experts' to be sure the one I'd chosen this time was really edible, and gave the dish its second chance! 

  It was served, again... Having had such bitter experience, in the very literal sense of the word, we cautiously, quick glances exchanged, brought the first loaded fork to the mouth and began testing... It was... unexpectedly wonderful(!) and this time because of an unusual combination of ingredients, something we never tried before!

  Just imagine the flavour - baked pumpkin + lemon-, honey-, balsamic vinegar seasoning, served with rucola and capers, and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. 

Ingredients:

• 1 middle-sized pumpkin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• | for seasoning | paprika in powder
• salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1\4 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• some fresh rucola leaves
• about 30 g grated Parmesan
• some preserved capers

Method of cooking:

1. Cut the punpkin into cubes or long slender pieces. Preheat an oven to 200C and bake pumpkin in olive oil till it's soft.
2. Meanwhile prepare the seasoning: mix together lemon juice, honey, vinegar, salt, paprica, parsley and olive oil.
3. Pour the seasoning onto the ready pumpkin and serve decorated with rucola, capers and grated Parmesan.

While this post was waiting in drafts for some days I made this dish two times more! I am sure you'll be very much pleased with the richness of its flavour if you decide to give it a try. Only be careful to choose the right pumpkin ;)