I carved my first pumpkin of the season yesterday--just your standard Jack-O-Lantern with the triangle eyes and toothy grin. Zach took care of my least favorite part: scooping out the slimy innards and the seeds. Some people really enjoy digging around in all that goo. When my friend Beth got engaged, for example, her future mister stowed the ring in the bottom of a gutted out pumpkin for her to find. Like I said, some people just really like being up to their elbows in pumpkin.
I do not, but seeing all those pumpkin guts yesterday reminded me eating roasted pumpkin seeds as a kid. So today I turned to the "Cooking" tab on our Website www.LetsEatPA.com, which has three different recipe search engines. I found a recipe for plain old roasted pumpkin seeds in the Kraft Foods recipes and then I found a kicked up, spicier recipe in the Taste of Home recipe search. Both are included below.
To my dismay, however, I did not find a single pumpkin seed recipe anywhere in our very own Community Recipes section, let alone a recipe containing pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, anyone?! So this is my call to all you local, at-home cooks out there. If you have a pumpkin recipe that your family demands you make for each and every autumnal gathering, by all means share it with the rest of us at www.LetsEatPA.com. I'm anxiously awaiting your recipe submissions. I've lots more carving to do and I'd like to use a local pumpkin seed recipe for my next batch.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Prep Time: 15 min.
Total Time: 25 min.
Makes: 2 servings (¼ cup each)
Ingredients:
-½ cup pumpkin seeds
-Butter-flavor cooking spray
-1/8 tsp. salt
1. Rinse seeds; remove any stringy membranes. Place seeds in single layer in 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Let stand at room temperature about 3 hours to dry.
2. Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit. Place seeds in single layer in baking pan. Spray generously with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
*from Kraft Foods
Fiery Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients:
-1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds
-2 teaspoons Louisiana-style hot sauce
-1 teaspoon chili powder
-½ teaspoon salt
-½ teaspoon ground cumin
-¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
-¼ teaspoon pepper
In a small bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds with hot sauce. Combine the chili powder, salt, cumin, cayenne and pepper; sprinkle over seeds and toss to coat. Spread into a greased foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 250-degrees for 45-50 minutes or until seeds are lightly browned and dry, stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 1 cup
*from Taste of Home
Are there special instructions for cooking in high altitude? I live in Colorado and my seeds always seem to turn out too dry
Thanks for the post its very nice!
I don't have a ton of experience cooking in high altitutes...make that zero experience. Let me see what I can find out for you!