Pumpkins - the no waste vegetable!

Autumn is here after our unexpected heat-wave last week and with Hallowe'en fast approaching it was time to practice my pumpkin carving!

I wasn't ready to go completely ghoulish so my pumpkin is more of an autumn lantern but it looks very pretty in the bake and crafthouse window. Plus I managed to make use of  nearly the whole pumpkin, only throwing away a small bowlful of the stringy part around the seeds. . .

PUMPKIN SOUP - The first soup of autumn

Ingredients
the flesh of a pumpkin roasted for approx. 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius (my pumpkin weighed about 1 kilo before I cut it)
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
olive oil
1 litre vegetable stock
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground ginger
juice of half an orange
salt & pepper to season
pumpkin seeds (optional)

Method:
I make most of my vegetable soups to this same method, either blending it at the end or leaving the vegetables whole for a chunky soup.

1) Chop and sweat the onion, celery and carrots in the olive oil until they begin to soften.
2) Add the roasted pumpkin, vegetable stock, spices and orange and bring to the boil.
3) Simmer until the vegetables are completely cooked.
4) Blitz together in a blender into a smooth soup.
5) Season with salt and pepper.
6) Sprinkle the top with a few pumpkin seeds before serving.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS
These are really simple and taste like popcorn! I have been munching on them all day.

Method:
1)You need to wash all the pumpkin flesh off the seeds, it is a bit time consuming but worth it!
2) Coat the seeds in a little oil and a sprinkling of salt and lay out in one layer on a baking tray.
3) Roast in a low oven (120 degrees Celsius) until they have dried out and are starting to colour slightly. Mine took about 50 minutes, then I switched the oven off but left the seeds inside for another hour or so.

They were still slightly sticky and sweet  from the pumpkin flesh when they came out, delicious! I don't know how long they would keep for but they won't last long enough to worry! I think they would also work well with a sprinkle of sugar instead of salt, I'll try this next time...