Taco Salad With Pumpkin, Black Beans, Corn & Poblano Peppers

I couldn’t help but notice this gnarly looking pumpkin at the farmers’ market. With a little research I learned that this winter squash is called a Green Goblin Pumpkin. Other names are Marina di Chioggia and Sea Pumpkin.

 

I’ve never been much of a pumpkin eater. Unlike Peter (the pumpkin eater), I have managed to keep my wife for 42 years, or, more accurately, she has kept me. Also, unlike Peter, I am not a murderer. While I never cared that much for pumpkin I do like winter squash. But in reality, pumpkins are a type of winter squash.

There is obviously enough pumpkin here for more than one meal. I decided to use some of it in a taco salad. Black beans, corn and winter squash are commonly used together in salads, so I am not doing anything new here.

I diced some of the pumpkin into small cubes, tossed them with olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, red chili powder, cumin powder, finely sliced fresh sage leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.

 

The seasoned pumpkin cubes were then roasted in the oven at 425ºF with the convection fan on.

 

Rinsed and drained canned black beans and the roasted pumpkin went into a small sauce pan.

 

Tomato paste, roasted corn and a little water were added.

 

When the corn was tender homegrown roasted poblano peppers were added.

 

To assemble the salad I arranged arugula, spinach and radicchio in freeform tortilla bowls.

 

Then I added thinly sliced cucumbers, radishes and cherry tomatoes.

 

The tortilla bowls were then filled with the black beans, pumpkin, corn and poblanos, then topped with cilantro and avocado.

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