3 recipes 1 pumpkin

Daddy and Spiderman (Lucan) with our jack-o-lanterns.

Carving jack-o-lanterns is a real highlight of Halloween but after the last trick or treater has gone home you are usually left with a mass of pumpkin that generally gets thrown away. This year we decided to do an experiment to see if, rather than waste them, we could make the most of them.

I managed to eek out 3 recipe from just one vegetable using every last bit – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Soup and Savoury Pumpkin Bread. All the recipes were real winners so give them a go and do not let your British grown pumpkins go to waste. They are in season now, are really versatile and taste fantastic.

The recipes I used are below:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
Seeds from 2 pumpkins
Vegetable oil
Soy Sauce
Pinch of salt

This is a really simple recipe but there are a few tricks to getting the seeds nice and crispy. The key is to make sure that when removing the seeds from the pumpkin you remove any of the pith or flesh and them wash them thoroughly. If you fail to do this the seed with stick together and will be soggy.

The method is really simple. Coat the cleaned seeds in the oil and soy and add a pinch of salt. Spread them on a baking sheet and stick on the oven on 150C for 45 minutes. You need to turn them every 15 minutes to prevent sticking.

They are a great snack and Lucan loved them.

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:
1 diced pumpkin
5 cloves of garlic
1 pint vegetable stock
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
1 tsp cumin
Sprig of rosemary
Nutmeg
Fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
2 tbl spoons Crème Fresh
Vegetable Oil/butter
Chilli Oil (optional)

The first job is to remove the skin of the pumpkin and cut it into large cubes. Add the pumpkin and the garlic cloves to a large roasting pan and coat in vegetable oil. There is no need to skin the garlic. Place your pumpkin in a pre-heated oven for 1 hour on 180C (if you are feeling clever you can put this in with your pumpkin bread to save a little energy).

In a pan add the onions, carrot and celery with a small amount of butter and sauté until the onions turn glassy. Add the Pumpkin and de-skinned garlic along with the stock. Add your herbs, salt and pepper and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid on. Before serving add the roughly chopped coriander and crème fresh. Then give the whole lot a blitz with a blender. I don’t like it too smooth so I just give a couple of short blasts.

Finally add a poncey swirl of crème fresh and chilli oil and plonk on a couple of coriander leaves on top for garnish like it’s 1978!

Savoury Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
Melted butter, to grease
300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mild chilli powder
450g mashed cooked pumpkin
125ml milk
60g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a loaf pan with melted butter. Sift the flour, salt and chilli powder into a large bowl. Add the seeds. Make a well in the centre.

Place the pumpkin, milk, butter and egg in a jug, and use a whisk to stir until well combined. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle evenly with some extra sunflower seeds.

Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven. Set aside in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Do you have a great pumpkin recipe. Please let us know in the comments section below!