Oven Roasted Pumpkin is a great way to make use of the parts of the pumpkin that are cut out during the carving process. This is great as it means as a food source less of the pumpkin goes to waste, as well as broadening the variety in our diets.

For some reason, this year I have found that the ‘Carving’ pumpkins’, i.e. those that are grown with the intention of being carved only are tasting really bland….I have bought them from outside people’s houses (here in Norfolk we get a lot of that), from supermarkets and markets. I am not sure whether this is down to climatic conditions this year in the UK or other reasons such as still being slightly unripe. Even the ones I grew in my garden were particularly lacking in ‘pumpkin flavour’ and colour.

So, for this reason, I feel like pumpkin recipes this year need pimping up with quite a lot of other flavours to make something tasty and balance them out. I did however find a crown prince pumpkin at a local market this week and am looking forwards to carving it tonight and trying this recipe again with the flesh from that as I suspect it will have a much stronger ‘pumpkin taste’ and be a much more vivid orange colour.

Pumpkins from an Ayurvedic perspective are sweet in taste, cooling and drying. They are normally rich in vitamins A, C and E. Due to their sweetness I have combined them here with a number of more heating elements that will keep you lovely and warm during these cold autumnal days. This recipe is very versatile and you can throw in other veggies that you like to roast too.

Oven Roasted Pumpkin Recipe

Cooking time 50 minutes Serves 2

Ingredients

2 handfuls roughly chopped pumpkin with skins removed with a peeler
1 red onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic sliced into thick slivers
a few baby tomatoes
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 Padron pepper
1 generous pinch of salt
1 generous pinch of coarsely ground black pepper
1 generous pinch smoked paprika
liberal drizzling of olive oil or ghee

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan (400ºF), Gas Mark 6.

Put all the ingredients into a small roasting tin, pulling the rosemary leaves off the stalk and making sure all the vegetables are coated in oil and the seasonings.

Place in the oven to cook, every 15 minutes give the pan a shake. Cook for 45 – 50 minutes total or until the pumpkin is cooked and soft when you put a knife into it. Serve as a vegetable accompaniment……I even had some leftovers on a pancake for breakfast the other morning!