It’s that time of year again. The evenings are starting to draw in, the streets glow with rich shades of orange and red, and we're hunting for our favourite woolly jumpers in the back of the wardrobe. Supermarkets are dressed for the season too, their aisles brimming with orange and black, and pumpkins of all sizes filling the shelves.
For families, pumpkin carving is often the main event, but there’s so much more you can do with this autumn staple, so why not turn them into something delicious for the whole family to enjoy? We celebrate the season with this comforting recipe from Jake Jones, the Head Chef of One-MICHELIN-Starred Forge in North Yorkshire.
Wood-Fired Pumpkin Flatbread with Lovage Gremolata, Goat’s Curd, Fermented Chilli Sauce & Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Dish Elements
FlatbreadPieces of barbecued pumpkin
Lovage gremolata
Fermented chilli hot sauce (we make our own on the Estate, but any shop-bought buffalo-style hot sauce is a great alternative)
Pumpkin seeds, toasted
Goat’s curd
Cold-pressed rapeseed oil
Rocket
Chicory leaves, chopped and reserved in ice water
Raw silverskin or small onions, burnt with a blowtorch
Flaky sea salt
Flatbread
Ingredients
320g strong white flour 180g tepid water
85g natural yoghurt
½ tbsp sugar
7g salt
10g garlic paste
10g cold-pressed rapeseed oil
25g fresh yeast
Method
• Mix all the dry ingredients together.• Mix water with fresh yeast and rapeseed oil.
• Using a stand mixer with a dough hook, or by hand, add the two mixes and the yoghurt and knead for 15 minutes.
• Transfer to a mixing bowl, cover with a damp cloth and prove until doubled in size.
• Divide into 70g balls and roll into the required shape.
• Place on a lined baking tray, cover with a damp cloth again, and prove.
• Heat a skillet or non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the flatbreads, one at a time, and cook on both sides until golden brown.
Wood-Fired Pumpkins
• At Forge we cook our pumpkins in a wood-fired oven until soft in the centre, but if this is not possible, either use a barbecue or bake in an oven for roughly 1–1.5 hours until soft.
• Cut into the required size, dress with cold-pressed rapeseed oil, and season with flaky sea salt.
Lovage Gremolata
Ingredients
40g picked basil leaves30g picked flat parsley leaves
60g picked lovage leaves (if you can’t find this, use more parsley)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
Neutral oil
Salt to taste
Method
• In a food processor, add all the ingredients together, then trickle in oil until the correct consistency is achieved, pulsing all the time until roughly chopped. It should resemble a loose pesto.
To Serve
• Warm the pumpkin pieces in the oven and heat the flatbread for a couple of minutes.
• Spread the lovage gremolata on the flatbread, then arrange the pumpkin pieces on top.
• Spoon on the goat’s curd.
• Arrange the petals of the burnt onions on top.
• Add toasted pumpkin seeds, chicory and rocket, then dress with the fermented hot sauce and serve.
Tip From the Chef: If you can’t get hold of goat’s curd, use Greek yoghurt instead – or substitute with vegan yoghurt to makes this a fully vegan dish.
Jake Jones' creative restaurant sits within the former forge that served the 200-acre Middleton Lodge Estate, located in the North Yorkshire village of Middleton Tyas. The tasting menu – which also comes in both vegetarian and vegan forms – features the latest seasonal produce, including some grown in their two-acre garden or foraged from the Estate, and they even go as far as harvesting their own honey and birch sap!
The remainder of the ingredients come from local farmers and producers, in a bid to support the local economy while also keeping their food miles as low as possible. The cooking demonstrates a strong grasp of balance and flavour, with a host of picture-perfect dishes that allow these local ingredients to really shine.
Hero Image: A warming autumn or Halloween dish from Jake Jones, Head Chef of One-MICHELIN-Starred Forge in Middleton Tyas, North Yorkshire (© Gasp Photo Co)
