LOS ANGELES, October 29, 2015 – Roasted pumpkin smells great and can be used in many recipes or cubed, mashed or sautéed into a perfect side dish.  It is simple to d

Roasted pumpkins

Use a small to medium sized baking pumpkins also known as pie pumpkins. These are smaller than decorative pumpkins and easier to handle and cut.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Use a large chef knife to cut off the stem and the bottom of the pumpkin.
3. Slice the pumpkin in half running from where the stem, use to be to the bottom of the pumpkin.
4. Use a strong spoon to scoop out the seeds and pumpkin strings. (Save the seeds for roasting)
5. Spray oil to grease the bottom of a baking dish.
6. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on the interior meat of the pumpkin and then place the pumpkin halves open side down.
7. Cover with foil and bake for an hour and ten minutes.

Let cool and serve or add it to other dishes to create a more seasonal meal. (The skin of a pumpkin is rather tough and will hold it’s shape when it’s being roasted.)

You can enjoy these deliciously roasted pumpkins as a side dish as mashed pumpkins (use a vegetable puree tool) with a sprinkling of brown sugar and butter, as butternut squash or even turn it into a delicious pumpkin soup. Whatever way you choose to serve them it will bring the season into full bloom.

Listen to PAIRED on Blog Talk Radio – Pumpkins – roasting seeds to soup