Ponzu Steak on a Wasabi pumpkin purée is an almost asian dish, the underlying flavours are all japanese although the format of the dish is more western cuisine (steak, potato). The highlight of this dish find itself in the pumpkin purée, not in the meat. The steak is a simply well seasoned with coarse salt and pepper steak cooked to your liking in the pan or even better grilled on the BBQ with a touch of ponzu (soy sauce + citrus essence sauce) to top it in the end. If you do not have any space left in the pantry for yet another one of those too little used bottles, you can always replace the ponzu with tamari or soy sauce.

The magic of this dish… you’ll find in the wasabi flavoured pumpkin purée. The technique is quite similar to mashed potatoes, except for the roasting of the pumpkin slices before mashing them up with the usual milk, butter, wasabi, salt and pepper. The mix might sound weird to some, wasabi + pumpkin, but I assure you, it’s a perfect combination of sweet and spicy. If you are like me, finding that pumpkin, butternut squash or  sweet potatoes are too sweet, I highly recommend to add some spice to it, whether it’s ginger, wasabi or else. This way the sweetness from those ingredients get balanced to perfection and way more pleasant to devour. Especially with those extras citrus flavours and caramelized touch from the roasting of the pumpkin.

I’m not the biggest fan of wasabi, but in this particular combination, I go “gaga” over it. There are some elements that works better when combined, for example; this wasabi-pumpkin mix, beets and goat cheese or even the famous peanut butter and jelly mix. Your brain might say no at first, but trust me on this it will blow away your senses as soon as it hits your tastebuds. Of course, you’ll have to be careful with the dosage of wasabi, since it’s a quite powerful ingredient and could easily overwhelm the dish. Add it little by little. Also, make sure to mash the potatoes well enough, to prevent getting a “surprise” wasabi punchy bite while dining… this could be quite unpleasant as well.

So let’s make this mashup asian, western dish!

Ponzu Steak on a Wasabi pumpkin purée

Makes 4 portions

Ingredients

• 4 steaks of your choice
• about 750g of pumpkin, or butternut squash in thick slices
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 cm long wasabi paste coming (from the tube)
• 100 ml of milk
• 30g of butter (or 2 tbsp)
• 4 tsp of ponzu (1 tsp for each steak) or soy sauce
• coarse salt and pepper

Directions

• Start by cutting the pumpkin skin off and cut into big slices, add the olive oil, salt and pepper
• Add to a baking paper covert baking sheet
• Roast the pumpkin slices until light brown in the oven, depending on the size of the pieces, about 35 minutes at 180°C (350F)
• When the pumpkin is ready, add to a bowl, add the milk, butter and wasabi paste and mash
• Season the pumpkin purée with extra salt and pepper, reserve
• Cover the steak with your favorite steak spices of simple coarse salt and pepper
• Sear the steak in the pan, at high heat, or your favorite coccion
• When done to your liking, add about 1 tsp of ponzu on each steaks
• Serve the steak on the pumpkin wasabi purée with some extra pumpkin seeds

Enjoy!