With Halloween fast approaching, it’s time to cook up a few classic pumpkin recipes.
There’s something deeply reassuring about a pumpkin sitting on the kitchen counter. Round, heavy, and sunlit even on a dull day, it brings a kind of calm. You don’t rush a pumpkin. You cut it slowly, the knife sliding through dense, orange flesh, and the scent is faintly sweet — somewhere between earth and honey.
I like to roast it first. Big wedges, skin left on, brushed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little sea salt. Maybe a scattering of thyme or a touch of chili. In a hot oven, the edges darken, caramelizing into something rich and sticky. You can eat it just like that, straight from the tray, with a spoon and a little crumble of feta or topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese. When the weather begins to cool, pumpkin becomes the cook’s quiet ally. Puréed into soup, it makes something velvety and soothing. A splash of cream, a hint of ginger, maybe a drift of nutmeg — the sort of bowl that seems to hug you back. Then there are the seeds — crisped in a dry pan until they pop, showered with salt and perhaps a touch of smoked paprika. I keep a small jar of them on the counter to scatter over soups, salads, or even a bowl of yogurt. Nothing goes to waste.
It’s not a show-off vegetable. It doesn’t demand precision or fuss. A pumpkin feels like an ingredient from another time — something you cook slowly, without hurry, while the rest of the world moves too fast. Its flavour is quiet but sure, a soft murmur of sweetness beneath whatever else you give it. Warm spices have a particular affinity with pumpkin, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Herbs such as sage and rosemary also make great marriages. You could make a risotto, stirring the soft orange flesh into the rice with butter and Parmesan until it turns golden and glossy, the sort of thing you eat by the fire, fork in one hand, glass of wine in the other. A Pumpkin is humble, generous, endlessly forgiving, and there’s beauty in its simplicity. Roast it, mash it, bake it — it’s a vegetable that never complains.
ROASTED PUMPKIN WEDGES WITH HONEY AND PARMESAN CHEESE
Ingredients serves 4
1 small pumpkin
1 tbsp clear honey
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
150ml olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
200g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2tbsp toasted pumpkins for garnish
salt and pepper
First, cut lengthwise into the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, and slice into ¾-inch wedges.
In a large bowl, mix the honey, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce and a little salt and pepper. Add the pumpkin wedges and toss to evenly coat with the dressing.
Pre-heat the oven to 200c.
Spread the pumpkin wedges into an even layer on a roasting tray and drizzle any of the remaining dressing over the pumpkin.
Roast for 20-25 minutes in the pre-heated oven, or until the pumpkin is cooked and lightly caramelised. Place the pumpkin wedges on a large serving dish, sprinkle with grated parmesan and lightly toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.
PUMPKIN RISOTTO
Ingredients: serves 6
1 small pumpkin
55g unsalted butter
2 spring onions, sliced
110g Arborio Risotto rice
600ml chicken stock
½ glass white wine
20g grated Parmesan
1tbsp pumpkin oil
Seasoning
Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove the pips from inside. Scrape out the
pulp using a melon baller. Bring the chicken stock and white wine to the boil
and set aside.
Gently melt the butter in a pan and sauté the pulp and spring onions for 3-4
minutes to soften. Stir in the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add a little hot
chicken stock until the rice is just covered and continue to stir until all the
liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Over a medium heat, continue to add the
stock gradually and stir until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice has
softened. About 15-20 minutes.
Add the grated Parmesan and season to taste. The risotto should be light and creamy. Stir in the pumpkin oil and your risotto is ready to serve.
PUMPKIN & SAGE GNOCCHI
800g pumpkin or squash
2 egg yolks
100g plain flour
10g rice flour
¼ tsp nutmeg
40g grated parmesan
50g butter
10 sage leaves chopped
Seasoning
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4.
Peel the pumpkin squash, deseed and cut the flesh into large chunks.
Put these on a lightly greased baking sheet and roast, turning once or twice, for 30-35 minutes, until tender but not coloured.
While the squash flesh is still warm, puree pass it through a potato ricer. If the puree looks a little wet, heat a large frying pan, either lightly greased or non-stick, on a medium-high heat, add the puree and cook, stirring regularly, for about 2-4 minutes, until it looks dry and slightly darker in colour. The mixture should be dense, like a smooth mashed potato.
Tip the puree into a large bowl, then add the flour, rice flour, cheese, nutmeg and salt, followed by the egg yolk. Stir until you have a soft but coherent dough, it should hold together, so add a touch more flour if necessary.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and dust a tray with more flour. Take a handful of the gnocchi mixture and roll it into a thick sausage about 2cm in diameter. Cut this into roughly 2cm lengths and lay them on the floured tray. Repeat with the remaining dough. Poach the gnocchi in gently boiling salted water until they rise to the surface and drain well.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then add the drained gnocchi and cook, stirring gently and tossing, until coated in butter and lightly coloured all over. Add the sage leaves, another grating of nutmeg and a little more grated parmesan. Serve immediately.
Pumpkin soup with feta & marjoram
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients serves 6
1kl peeled pumpkin, diced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 leek, white part only, sliced
1 potato, peeled & diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed
900ml chicken stock
125ml cream
A small bunch of marjoram leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
60g feta cheese, crumbled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the pumpkin, potato, marjoram leaves and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Add the cream and feta cheese and then blend to a smooth puree.
Season to taste; pass through a fine sieve and then ladle into soup bowls. Scatter with the pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of cream. Serve immediately.
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