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Potato, pumpkin & halloumi gratin

Colourful layers of sweet orange pumpkin, salty white halloumi and potato, baked in cream and vegetable stock. A gorgeous vegetarian Christmas dish.
Servings: 4

Ingredients

halloumi gratin

  • 500g or 1/2 small pumpkin/butternut squash
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 300 ml double/heavy cream
  • 10-15 scrapes whole nutmeg
  • 6 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
  • 600g/4 medium potatoes
  • 1 pack halloumi

romaine salad with apple cider vinaigrette

  • 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 100ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Instructions

for the gratin

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Peel, halve and deseed the squash, adding all the trimmings to a medium saucepan. Add the crushed garlic and 600g water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the stock to remove the squash trimmings, pressing with a spatula to extract the most flavour – you will be left with about 400ml stock. Add the cream, nutmeg, sage and ½ teaspoon flaky salt and plenty of pepper – the sauce should be flavourful and fairly salty.
  • While the stock is simmering, thinly slice the pumpkin, potatoes and halloumi. Starting with a little sauce, layer potatoes, pumpkin and halloumi, separating each layer with a couple more tablespoons of sauce – keep the pieces overlapping but fairly loose so the liquid will be able to penetrate. Finish with a layer of pumpkin and a covering of sauce – make sure there is at least 1cm left at the top to allow for bubbling up. Cover with foil and bake for 40-50 minutes, until the vegetables feel tender when poked with a knife. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes to brown the top. Grind on a generous helping of pepper and rest for 10 minutes before serving.

for the salad

  • You can whisk the dressing ingredients together by hand, but if you prefer a creamy, emulsified dressing, a food processor or blender is best. Start with the mustard, vinegar, ½ teaspoon flaky salt and lots of pepper, then add the oil in a drizzle – blend until the dressing is thick and smooth.