Roasted Pumpkin

If there’s ever one recipe that will help create even more recipes, it’s those for roasted vegetables. I absolutely love to fire up the oven and get my produce seasoned and roasted to eat them as-is, puree them into soups or throw them into stews. You can be as creative as you want to be or simply enjoy them straight out of the oven.

Vegetables with similar roasting times to pumpkin are acorn squash and butternut squash, depending on their sizes, of course.

Roasted Pumpkin

It’s such a shame to see pumpkins rotting outside at the moment. There’s no need to waste such an amazingly delicious and nutritious food source. Don’t be intimidated by the tough outer shell of the pumpkin- once it’s carved and heated up, it’s as soft and tender as it needs to be to release the meat of this wonderful melon.

Ingredients

1 large pumpkin

Olive oil

Sea salt

Dried mint

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Clean the outside surface of the pumpkin with soap and water to remove dirt and hopefully anything else on it that could be harmful if ingested (i.e. salmonella, sprays and more).

*VERY IMPORTANT: Be sure to dry it thoroughly before cutting so that the knife doesn’t slip when cutting.

Using a chef’s knife carefully cut the pumpkin in half. Remove the stem, as well.

Remove the seeds by scooping them out with a spoon. Don’t waste them! They can be so delicious if you make them just like this.

Chop up the now seedless pumpkin into somewhat large chunks (that will make it easier to slice it right off the outer shell once it’s cooked).

Drizzle with olive oil, salt and dried mint.

Roast for about 40 minutes or until the center of each piece is soft and easy to poke with a fork.