- 400gm pumpkin
- Peeled and seeds removed
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- I tbsp Za’atar
- Available in most supermarkets
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds.
Cover pumpkin, drizzle with oil and season, cook at 200C or gas mark 7 for around 35 mins, until soft. Mash the pumpkin with a fork,
add the garlic, lemon juice, za’atar, cumin and tahini.
When ready to serve drizzle extra tahini, if wanted and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.
I have used sweet potato instead of pumpkin and walnut pieces, dry fried instead of the seeds. My guests thought it worked well.
I added some salt to the dip.
My fascination in food took hold at an early age for a number of reasons. My mother did not cook, at all. My godmother, however, was a well known cookery writer, who invited me for weekends in London, treating me to the delights of the Soho delicatessens, the cuisine of the top London Chefs. Then in the late fifties I went to Paris with my Bristol dancing school, performed at the Grand Palais, tasted French food, coffee, croissants and cognac. I was barely ten. 
