Pumpkin means autumn in the kitchen. They’re big and small, orange, grey or green. Whichever variety you like best, pumpkin not only tastes good, it’s also very good for you. It is full of anti-oxidants, substances that protect us against illness.
Pumpkin is also easy to prepare. You can make something delicious in no time at all! You can hollow out a pumpkin and make a fine soup from the flesh (mum and dad will find a recipe). Scoop the seeds out of the flesh and rinse them under running water. Sprinkle with some olive oil or sunflower oil and season with salt and cayenne pepper. Place the seeds on a baking tray and roast for 20 to 30 minutes in the middle of an oven heated to 180°C. You can also roast the seeds in a frying pan. You will notice how nutty the roasted seeds taste, and they add fun and crunch to any soup, salad or sandwich.
Maybe you want to mix some pumpkin into your mashed potato? It turns it into a really colourful treat! Alternatively, if you chop your pumpkin into sticks, sprinkle some olive oil on top, followed by some rosemary or thyme, then bake the sticks in the oven until crispy, you have prepared some delicious homemade pommes frites – or should that be pumpkin frites? It doesn’t really matter. The main thing to remember is that you can conjure up all kinds of tasty treats with pumpkin.
You can even make something decorative and fun for the living room, garden or family dinner table. For a pumpkin ghost, use liquorice snails for the eyes and small marshmallows for the teeth. An old hat will keep the pumpkin head nice and warm. You can even create a light feature: remove the top of the pumpkin, scoop out the flesh and ask dad to drill small holes all around it. Put some fairy lights inside (storing the cable in the belly), plug them into the mains and you have a magical, illuminated pumpkin. All you need now is the delicious pumpkin soup and your house and dinner table is so well lit that the evil spirits on Halloween will certainly give your home a miss!
