The great thing about pumpkin season is that you can cook and grill so many different pumpkin recipes. Hokkaido wedges are spicy, crispy slices of delicious Hokkaido pumpkin, seasoned with Provençal herbs and wrapped in fine Italian pancetta.
A wonderful side dish, as a snack or on a salad. World barbecue champion Marco Greulich shows us how it's done:
To start, wash the pumpkin, cut into quarters and remove the insides. Then cut the quarters into thick wedges.
Mix a little olive oil with chopped garlic, salt, pepper and herbes de Provence and brush the wedges with it. Then carefully wrap the Hokkaido wedges in the pancetta and secure with a toothpick if necessary.
Set the Monolith to an indirect heat of approx. 180°C and place the slices on top.
The cooking time is approx. 20 to 30 minutes. It is best to prick the slices with a toothpick to test how soft they are. If the toothpick goes in very easily, the Hokkaido wedges are ready.
If you like, you can grill them briefly over direct heat for even more roasted flavors.
Tip:
Pancetta is a very fine, aromatic, rolled up and matured pancetta from Italy. Alternatively, bacon can also be used here.
If you are looking for a vegetarian version, leave out the pancetta and replace it with carrot strips. Simply peel a large carrot and cut into long, thin strips using a peeler. Blanch briefly in boiling water and cool in cold water. Wrap these strips around the wedges instead of the pancetta or bacon and secure with a toothpick if necessary.
Do not dispose of the pumpkin seeds, but roast them in a cast iron pan on the barbecue and sprinkle over the Hokkaido wedges as a crunchy topping when serving.
Towards the end of the cooking time, you can also gratinate the wedges with a little grated Parmesan.
