If you have invested a whole £2.50 on a pumpkin to carve this year, don’t waste all the insides once you have your jack-o-lantern! Here are two simple recipes that use up all the insides that you would normally just throw away:
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Even if you normally wouldn’t eat seeds, you still have to try this! During my first year, my flatmate insisted on making some and they were incredibly moreish, they were gone in no time, and they are incredibly simple to make!
Ingredients:
- The seeds from inside your pumpkin
- A dash of oil and a pinch of salt
Method:
- Cover the seeds in oil with a sprinkling of salt and spread them out over a baking tray.
- Put the seeds in a preheated oven at 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for about 7 minutes until golden and crispy and then let them cool. That’s it!
Pumpkin Pie
The classic American Halloween dish is really easy to make and is simply delicious (especially with some cream).
Ingredients for the pastry:
- 90g butter
- 65g caster sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 200g flour, plus some for dusting
Ingredients for the filling:
- 750g of pumpkin flesh
- 140g caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 25g butter (melted)
- 175ml milk
Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar together and then add the egg yolks one at a time until fully combined. Then mix in the flour to form a ball of dough.
- On a floured surface, knead the ball of dough until smooth, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
- Place the pumpkin chunks in a pan with boiling water and let it simmer for 15 minutes, before draining, allowing to cool and then blending.
- Grease your tin well, before rolling out your pastry dough and lining the tin with the pastry. Chill the pastry lined tin for 15 minutes.
- Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and cover with rice or ceramic baking beans. Put the tin in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C/Gas Mark 4, then remove the rice or ceramic baking beans and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden.
- In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, melted butter, milk and eggs together. Then add the pumpkin puree and mix until fully combined, before pouring the mixture into the pastry case.
- Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 220°C/Gas Mark 7, before turning the temperature down to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for a further 35-40 minutes until the filling has set.
- Leave to cool and then serve with generous amounts of cream.
Josh Caldicott
Featured image courtesy of ‘Pimthida’ via Flickr. License here.
