Delicious Roast Cockerel with Pumpkin & Lentil Salad

Our Free Range Cockerel offers juicier, bolder, and more generous meat than a chicken, with a rich gamey flavour. It pairs beautifully with this wholesome, autumnal roast pumpkin salad that is a cinch to make.

Serves 4

Cockerel

We recommend cooking our 1kg cockerel saddle (double breast on the bone) to serve 4 people.

To feed more, choose one of our whole cockerels from 3kg – 5kg

Ingredients

1kg Kent pumpkin (or other pumpkin)
1 lemon, halved
125ml extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp each Dijon mustard and honey
400g can lentils, rinsed and drained
35g currants
50g baby capers, rinsed and drained
64g pumpkin seeds, toasted
1-2 bags (80g – 150g) of watercress and/or rocket leaves

Roast pumpkin and lentil salad with roasted lemon dressing recipe found at delicious.com.au

Method

Cooking the cockerel saddle (1kg)

Prepare

Bring the cockerel saddle to room temperature
Rub with olive oil or butter and season well
Squeeze half a lemon over the cockerel

Cook

Place in 200°C pre-heated oven for 15 mins to sizzle.
Reduce temperature to 170°C for a further 30 – 45 mins
Probe and check temperature, ideally removing from the oven at 64°C (or when juices run clear)
Allow to rest for at least 10 mins (the meat will continue to cook and the temperature will rise whilst resting)

These are guidelines only based on standard UK ovens.

Roast pumpkin & lentil salad method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the pumpkin into 3cm-thick wedges, discarding the seeds and fibre from the centre. Divide between two trays lined with baking paper. Add half a lemon to each tray, then drizzle with ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil and season well.
Roast for 30 minutes, swapping round the trays halfway, or until the pumpkin is soft and richly caramelised. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Combine onion and vinegar. Set aside.
To make the dressing, squeeze the juice from the roasted lemon and combine with remaining olive oil, Dijon, honey and season. Combine the lentils, currants, parsley, capers and onion, then mix with some of the dressing.
To serve, arrange the wedges of roasted pumpkin on a plate and top with the lentil salad, sprinkle over the toasted pumpkin seeds, watercress and remaining dressing.