The Seeds of Spice

Since my last post was rather complicated, I have decided to post a simple recipe for a change. Toasted pumpkin seeds two different ways.

Prep/Cook time: 10 minutes to bake, 10+ minute prep (depending on number of pumpkins), and several hours for the seeds to dry

Ingredients:

*Note: You will need to allow sufficient drying time for the seeds. I suggest letting them dry overnight.

Pumpkins (baking or regular jack-o-lantern pumpkins)
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
1 tsp+ Salt
1 Pinch Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Hot Sauce (I use Chelsea Wicked Hot Sauce...it has habanero and ghost peppers)

This recipe is great for right around Halloween, but it can be made any time fresh pumpkins can be found.  Start by cutting off (or open) the top of your pumpkin. If you are going to be carving your pumpkin later, be careful not to gouge any unwanted holes. Remove all pumpkin seeds from the inside of the pumpkin and place seeds in a colander. The best way to do this is by using your fingers or a metal spoon. Be sure to check all of the corners and crevices for any hidden seeds.

The number of seeds you will get per pumpkin depends on the pumpkin itself. If you buy a jack-o-lantern, I would at a minimum buy two. If you are using baking pumpkins 4-6 small one should provide plenty of seeds. You may need to chop open small or stubborn pumpkins as you may not be able to get your hand inside the smaller ones. If you do use baking pumpkins be sure not to waste the pumpkin itself. See my pumpkin ice cream recipe for how to cook and freeze pumpkins. You can also cook up pumpkin like you would cook squash (recipe for that to come at a later date).

Once you have scooped out the seeds be sure to wash them thoroughly and remove any excess pumpkin pulp.

Once you have rinsed the seeds, dump them out onto a cookie sheet and pat dry. Leave your seeds to dry for several hours or overnight.

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

To make regularly salted pumpkin seeds, take half of the dried seeds and place them on a cookie sheet. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil (assuming yield is roughly 2 cups or more of seeds, you may need to adjust the amount of oil based on how many/few seeds you have), 1 tsp salt and a few dashes of pepper. Mix the seeds until all seeds are evenly coated with oil and salt. If you like saltier seeds feel free to add as much salt as you like. I recommend adding some salt before roasting and then also adding salt as they come fresh out of the oven.

To make spicy seeds take the remaining half of the dried seeds and add 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cayenne pepper and a dash of salt and pepper. Make sure the seeds are coated evenly. If you like really spicy seeds feel free to play around with the quantities of spices or even add chipotle or other chili powders.

Place the cookie sheet(s) in the oven for 10 minutes. Be sure to check on your seeds at around 5 minutes. If your seeds are becoming brown too quickly you will want to take your seeds out sooner than 10 minutes. Once your seeds are golden brown take your seeds out of the oven and add a few more pinches of salt while the seeds are still hot. For the spicy seeds this is the point where you will want to add a few or more drops of hot sauce while the seeds are still hot. Add as much hot sauce as you want but be careful not to make the seeds soggy. To stop baking from continuing, remove the seeds from the cookie sheets and place them into heat proof bowls to cool.

Once you seeds have cooled (or not!) ENJOY!!!

Cheers!~KBH