It foiled my plans!
That moment when you do something ordinary and it tastes extraordinary! What am I blathering on about? Home-roasted pumpkin seeds. I know, I know, it’s not a novel concept. It’s been done. For years. But not by me, you see!
And let me tell you: De-licious. Crispy and nutty with a hint of popcorn flavor. And talk about simple. I am clearly tardy to the DIY pumpkin seed party, but I think that was because I was given the wrong directions. And yes, I mean that both metaphorically and literally. I cooked with a lot with pumpkin in New Zealand, and I did my very best to use up every part of it. I tried roasting my own seeds on several occasions, and as you might have guessed, those attempts did not turn out very successfully. Whether they came out too burnt, or not cooked enough, I ended up feeding the birds quite a bit. It seemed that my pumpkin seed career was not meant to be; until now.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…but I can just buy pumpkin seeds. Sure you can get them pre-hulled, or pre-roasted with the shells still on, but that usually means your tongue is going to shrivel up because of the salt content; or is that just me? And yes, you can get them unsalted. But… if you are doing something with a fresh pumpkin, the real question is why be wasteful? Use those seeds!
Anyway, here is the recipe so you too can snack on some delicious pumpkin seeds. Don’t let those little delicious bits go to waste! I did mine just as the recipe says, but you can season them with whatever you’d like. I’m thinking the next time is going to be with a little cinnamon, or curry powder. Mmmm, the possibilities.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Recipe from Simplyrecipes.com
Ingredients
Pumpkin seeds, rinsed with all pulp, string and other gunk removed
olive oil
salt
Method
- Measure the clean pumpkin seeds in a cup measure. Place the seeds in a medium saucepan. Add 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to the pan for every half cup of pumpkin seeds. Add more salt if you would like your seeds to be saltier.
- Bring the salted water and pumpkin seeds to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the seeds are simmering, preheat your oven to 400°F.
- After the 10 minutes are up, remove the pot from the heat and drain. Pat the seeds dry.
- Coat the bottom of a roasting pan or thick baking sheet with olive oil, about a tablespoon. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan in a single layer, and toss them a bit to coat them with the oil on the pan.
- Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 5-20 minutes, depending on the size of the seeds. Small pumpkin seeds may toast in around 5 minutes or so, large pumpkin seeds may take up to 20 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the pumpkin seeds so they don’t get over toasted.
- When lightly browned, remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack. Let the pumpkin seeds cool all the way down before eating. You can either crack to remove the inner seed or eat whole.
Whiskey and Wanderlust 