Our pumpkin recipes

Ok so you went for it yesterday and got a pumpkin, cleared out the seeds and some of the flesh. Your pumpkin looked great outside but now you have at least one bowl full of stuff left and no idea what to do with them. Let me help....

The first thing to do is to pull all the seeds out of the stringy stuff and put them into a colander. Rinse them well under cold water to remove any remaining bits of flesh and tip onto a clean tea towel. Lightly pat the seeds so they aren't dripping wet but just damp. Tip them onto a baking sheet and then sprinkle over a teaspoon of salt. Shake them to mix the salt around and evenly distribute the seeds over the sheet. Pop into the oven at 250C for about 45 mins until very lightly golden brown and crisp. You can eat these warm from the oven or allow to cool completely and store in an air tight container. These are delicious with a cold beer!!

Now to the pumpkin flesh, cut it into small chunks and place into a microwave for 5 mins on high. Remove and stir to distribute the heat evenly and repeat cooking for another 5 mins. Check the pumpkin and if it is still firm repeat cooking and stirring until it is very soft and easily mashed with a girl. Set aside to cool.

Mix together
1 container of double cream or Elmlea
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
and add half the cream container of milk. Mix thoroughly together. Mash the cooled pumpkin and add to the spiced milk mixture. Mix with a hand blender to create a smooth batter. Pour into a pre-baked shortcrust pastry case (this will fill 2-3 cases) and cook at 200C for around 50mins or until the centre of the batter is set. Serve warm or cold with ice cream, cream or custard - delicious!!