1 pumpkin - 3 fun things to do with it.

Ah..Halloween. A North American tradition verging on obsession and the biggest holiday of the year. Little do a lot of people know that the origins of Halloween have roots in Celtic traditions and maybe even Roman, take a look at this link if you're interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

We do celebrate Halloween in the UK, just not with the same enthusiasm as North America. We do have a big celebration on the 5th November, however, called Bonfire night, a festival dating back to Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night#British_customs

This festival is as much about food as anything else as I remember. It would be a homage to the beginning of Autumnal / Winter food, usually tomato soup, sausages, baked potatoes on the bonfire, chili Con Carne etc. It would be anything warming and hearty, like a steaming mug of hot chocolate or soup held in mittened hands while watching the fireworks lit by your dad in the back yard, or holding a sparkler in the other hand while watching your breath form clouds in the air.

Sadly, this festival is not recognised in Canada, so it usually passes by without us even noticing, plus fireworks are illegal here, (except for certain nights of the year - including Halloween), so all my memories of standing in the street with all my neighbours, preparing food and watching Guy Fawkes' effigies burn on the bonfire will never be recreated while in Vancouver. I just read, however, that Naniamo, BC actually honour this festival, so maybe next year we can make the ferry trip over.

Anyway, while in Rome..... We did celebrate Halloween along with everyone else, attending two costume parties in two different outfits and having a few drinks on the actual day itself, Sunday. We even bought a pumpkin, albeit a very small one, and Neil carved a spooky face into it while I roasted a whole chicken.

For some reason, pumpkins were never really used as Jack o'lanterns in the UK, my mum used to use a swede (rutabaga) and the pulp inside would be mashed with potato, (similar to a traditional Thanksgiving dish in Canada). Rather than mashing the pumpkin flesh to eat as a side-dish, I found a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake and we kept the seeds and roasted them with butter, salt and herbs to be eaten as a snack or in salads.




So, 1 pumpkin:

1. Neil's Jack O'lantern











2. Pumpkin Cheesecake (low carb)

Recipe
Heat the oven to 375oF
Crust
1 cup almond meal
2 sachets sweetener (or 2 tsp sugar)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg white, whisked until frothy

Mix the almond meal, sweetener, salt and melted butter together, stir well.
Add the egg white and mix well.
Press this into a pan containing wax or grease-proof paper at the bottom.
Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes and remove.

Filling
2 packets of Philadelphia or other cream cheese
The inside of a pumpkin, pureed in a processor (or 1 can of pumpkin puree)
1 cup of sugar (or 12 sachets of sweetener)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Mix cheese, pumpkin, spices and vanilla together until well blended.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time and mix well.
Pour into the pan with the crust, spread out evenly and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes without opening the door.
Remove from the oven and pan, cool on a wire tray and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Serve with cream.









3. Roasted Pumpkin seeds
Seeds from a pumpkin
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp salt with herbs
pinch of paprika











Take the pumpkin seeds from the flesh and rinse several times until all the flesh has been removed.
Dry overnight on a piece of kitchen towel. (They may be a bit sticky and you may lose some through being stuck to the paper)
Heat the oven to 230oF.
Mix the butter with the seeds, mixing well to coat them all and season with the salt and herbs. Mix well again.
Lay the seeds into a single layer and roast for about 40 minutes until brownish and roasted.
Drain on kitchen towel and store in an airtight container.

These are also known as Pepitas.