Sharrad, who took over the reins at The Pot following the departure of former head chef Emma McCaskill late last year, says the pimped pumpkin is “simple enough to take a back seat at a dinner party and bold enough to steal the show”, with the vibrancy of the pumpkin offset by the creamy yoghurt and jet-black soy.

Raw market fish with horseradish and soy, and raw kangaroo loin with burnt and pickled vegetables are among other items on The Pot’s tasting menu for the Unley Gourmet Gala street party, which will take place on King William Road this Thursday and is held annually during the Tour Down Under.

Butternut pumpkin, caramelised yoghurt, pepitas

Ingredients

1 butternut pumpkin, medium
200g high-quality yoghurt
500g pepitas
500ml soy sauce
200ml olive oil
Flake sea salt
Organic honey

Serves 4-6

Method

Preheat oven to 140C.

Place pumpkin in the oven on a tray and cook for about 2 hours or until a skewer can easily push through to the middle. Take out and set aside.

Turn the oven up to 160C. Place the pepitas in a roasting tray along with half of the soy sauce. Mix and roast for 5 minutes. Take the tray out and mix again. Repeat this process until all of the soy sauce has dried up. Set aside and allow to cool and go crispy.

Whisk the yoghurt to remove any lumps. Set back into the fridge.

Slice the pumpkin across the length, into 2-4cm wide discs, depending on the size of your pumpkin.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium flame. Add a touch of olive oil and cook the pumpkin inside the pan on one side for 4 minutes, flip and cook on the other side for another 4 minutes.

Take out of the pan and drizzle with a little bit of honey, season with some salt.

To plate:

Place the pumpkin on a round plate, just off centre. Pour over about 50ml of both olive oil and soy, the oil will float on top of the soy, creating a lovely mosaic. Next, spoon a dollop of the whisked yoghurt on top of the pumpkin and allow it to fall over the side a little bit for dramatic effect. Finally, sprinkle over some of the pepitas.

Enjoy warm or hot, depending on the temperature outside!

The Unley Gourmet Gala will take place from 5pm-10.30pm this Thursday (January 17), with pop-up food and wine stalls, extended restaurant and shop trading, fashion parades and live music.