I went to the organic market the other day, and found this delicious sweet pumpkin, I was told it is good roasted. i wondered what she really meant with it, how to roast a pumpkin?. The only thing that came to my mind is "well, I guess the same way as I roast the peanuts!" :)I rinse the pumpkin on the outside, cut the top of it, leaving enough from it to close it again, took the seeds out to roast them as well and add them to another batch of homemade bread. My husband loves them!.
Once the Pumpkin was ready to be filled, I opened the fridge and gather vegetables to add to it... It all started with a red onion ...
In a saucepan, with some olive oil, stir the onions until they are sort of transparent, then added some red pepper ...
Added some eggplant. Eggplants are always good to add to anything ...
And of course, carrots give color and crunchiness
Stir a bit until everything comes together. I added some frozen peas. It needed the light green touch that only peas can give! I also added chopped spinach. My original idea was to add fresh basil, but I was out of it. In those cases, Spinach are good to add color but not flavor, nothing beats the taste of fresh basil!added some salt, black pepper, a touch of oregano and a bigger touch of Thyme.
Filled the pumpkin.
I had more filling then what I thought, still used all of it. At first, I covered the Pumpkin in foil, and it took forever to be ready, as soon as I opened it, it roasted fast!
The filling was already cooked so I only wanted the pumpkin to become soft and easy to eat! after all it did! yum!
My husband was so hungry he couldn't wait for the pumpkin to be ready, so I made a snack for him with the vegetable filling. On a fresh baked slice of homemade bread, I put on a slice of Monterrey cheese and on top of it some of the left over vegetable filling that was as well in the oven. My husband loved it!Ingredients
1 Medium Sweet Pumpkin
1 big red onion
1 small red pepper
1/2 cup eggplant
1 medium carrot
1 hand full frozen peas
1 hand full chopped fresh Spinach
salt to taste
a touch of Oregano
a bigger touch of thyme
feel free to play with your spices ...
(you can also add cheese, just play with it!)
Have fun and enjoy it!
2 comments:
Hi Naraleska!
To roast pumpkin, remove seeds and fleshy inside pulp. Chop into large pieces. Place on greased oven tray and bake at 180 deg for about 45 min (test with fork for softness). Just like baked potato pieces, only pumpkin has softer flesh so it doesn't need as long to cook. I love roast pumpkin chopped into small pieces and tossed through a salad! Yum-o! I also like to substitute pumpkin for potatoes in stews and casseroles.
Have fun!
Emma.
Thanks Emma! In Venezuela we use other roots as well like niame, ocumo, apio together with potatos on soups. Pumpkin was always eaten alone on a delicious pumpkin soup. For some reason, people always bought pumpkin in pieces for cooking and not the whole thing. As the whole thing was merely use in witchcraft rituals. It is funny, growing up I never felt really drawn to Pumpkin, I thought I had to go through a process of deliverance before actually cooking or eating it hehehe! I am glad I can enjoy it and feel free to indulge myself in its rich flavor as an adult
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