I know it's an often used phrase but pumpkins really are one of natures wonder-foods. They are an excellent source of vitamin E (good for healthy skin and hair), thiamine, niacin, vitamin B6 and folic acid (all part of the vitamin B group, great for feeling energised) as well as iron, magnesium and phosphorus. They are also a very good source of dietary fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium, copper and manganese. In addition they are low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol and sodium. After taking off the top and scooping out the seeds my hands had absorbed lots of those lovely nutrients and were feeling very soft - shame my fingers were so orange it looked like I had a 60 a-day habit!
I decided straight off that I'd roast it first and decide what to do with the roasted chunks later. I could have steamed or boiled it but I love the flavour of it roasted so that was the way I was going. By the way, while pumpkins can very easily keep for 6 months from harvest before you eat them, once you pierce that skin the clock is ticking and even in the fridge you have only a couple of days before it goes off. You can keep the seeds, take all the skin off and roast them as well but I have a large bag of seeds already in the cupboard so I didn't bother.
So having taken off the top and de-seeded it (and taking a few moments out to admire my lovely soft hands!) I cut it into large sections, skinned it and chopped it again into bite size pieces. Again this was choice, you can easily roast the pumpkin whole (just stick it with a knife in a few places to let the steam out) or in large sections with the skin on (and then have the fun of eating it like melon!) My chopped pumpkin filled my two largest oven trays (9x13inches if you are interested), I gave them a little oil (about 1 tablespoon of good quality olive oil per tray) and stuck them in the oven at gas mark 5. I then promptly went out and forgot about them - well, there was a craft fair to go to! Don't worry, darling husband was left looking after them with the instruction to turn the pieces over (and swap the tray around on the shelves) in thirty minutes and turn the oven off after an hour.
When I came home the smell was delicious. To be honest I think they could have done with a little bit longer as the edges were only just starting to brown up but by then it was too late. So I popped the pumpkin into several plastic tubs with lids and stuck them in the fridge. I've done several things with them since, here come my best 3 recipes!
Hot Pumpkin Salad
I'm not kidding, this was absolutely delicious and so simple. You will need a couple of hand fulls of rocket or spinach or (preferably) a mix of both. Don't take them straight out of the fridge or if you do give them chance to warm to room temperature. Pop this in an ovenproof bowl, on top of this add a few very finely cut slices of red onion (raw) and one cup of re-heated (or fresh) roasted pumpkin, on top of this crumble a large slice of Stilton cheese. Pop it under a low grill while quickly making croutons - toast your bread (gluten-free if necessary), rub one side with the cut surface of a clove of garlic, butter or brush with oil, toast again and chop into squares. Remove the salad from the grill just as the leaves start to wilt, dress with balsamic vinegar and lemon juice and garnish with the croutons. It was utterly delicious and I will be doing this one again. If you fancy changing it a bit try putting the salad in a warm pitta bread and leaving out the grilling and the croutons or swap the Stilton for Cheddar or a vegan cheese (follow this link to a great page on vegan cheese). Maybe a few chili flakes on top wouldn't go amiss either.Roast Pumpkin Soup
The quick way is to take one portion of Simple Lentil Soup, add a cup of the roast pumpkin and blend. The less quick, lentil and tomato-free way is to gently fry in olive oil half a red onion, one clove of chopped garlic and a couple of slices of fresh ginger (finely chopped) until the onion goes very soft and glossy (3 or 4 minutes). Add 350ml of vegetable stock, 1 cup of the roasted pumpkin and a twist of pepper. Simmer for 5minutes then blend. Garnish with some finely chopped parsley, or chili flakes or sour cream, or like I did all 3!Pumpkin and Pasta Bake.
I finely chopped one red onion and fried that in olive oil until it went soft and translucent. To this I added some finely chopped yellow and red peppers, 3 very finely chopped mushrooms (if the girls see mushroom they wont eat it so I tend to cut it so small they can't tell what it is!) and a good glug of sherry. Keep frying until all the pepper is soft. Then I added one family sized portion of slightly under-cooked gluten-free pasta (300g before cooking) 4 chopped Quorn frankfurters (watch out, while my gluten sensitive husband can tolerate them I'm not sure a true coelic could and these also contain egg, if it's a problem leave it out) and 2 cups of the roasted pumpkin and turned off the heat.Next I grated 250g of Cheshire cheese. I chose this over Cheddar for two very simple reasons, it's more lemony and I thought that would help the flavour and secondly because I couldn't see when else I was going to use it! You could use a strong Cheddar or vegan cheese instead. I added half of the cheese to the mix and after a gentle stir transferred the lot into an oven proof dish before covering with the rest of the cheese and what remained of the cream cheese from the fridge and then putting in a preheated oven at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes. I suggest serving it with a nice cold west country cider (though that is a glass of squash in the back-ground).
So there you have it. 4 recipes in one post - Roasted Pumpkin, Hot Pumpkin Salad, Pumpkin soup and Pasta and Pumpkin Bake. All vegetarian (and potentially vegan), all gluten free and all delicious. Now if you don't mind I'm off to admire the soft glowing skin all that vitamin E has given me!
