Pepitas (dried pumpkin seeds)
Soak cleaned seeds in salted water over night or for a rew hours, dry off and then spread on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at really low heat (150ish) for 10-20 mins (use your hand,
they're done when they feel light and well, dry...) The real trick with these is learning where to bite them so that the two sides of the shell spring apart and the seed falls onto your tongue...
Porotos Granados (pumpkin, corn, beans and basil -YUM!)
For this one you fry a finely chopped onion with a tsp each of oregano, cumin and paprika ( I really like the spanish smoked variety). Then you add a big double handful of pumpkin chunks, a handfull or two of shelled porrotos (we call them Borlotti Beans in Australia, I think in the U.S. they're called Cranberry Beans?), a can of creamed corn, and salt and pepper to taste. The pumpkin and beans can be pre-cooked if you prefer but either way let the whole lot simmer until it disintegrates and smells done. A few minutes before serving stir through a good amount of shredded fresh basil...mmmmm!
Mash a cup of cold cooked pumpkin, add a cup of self raising flour (gluten free works fine), some salt, a tbsp of melted butter and enough water to make a smooth dough. Roll out to a little less than 1 cm thick and use a glass to press out rounds. Shallow fry in a light oil (grape seed is good-avoid canola, that stuff'll kill ya!) and stand each fritter on its side to drain all the oil out. You can eat this savoury if you like, but these babies were made for cinnamon sugar or a syrup of cinamon and honey...:-)
and finally Pastel de Choclo...
...which actually, has nothing to do with pumpkin lol. I'm not going to describe how it's made here, as it's a bit long and convoluted (follow the link for a recipe), but it's made of creamed corn with basil, savoury mince, roast chicken, whole boiled eggs, black olives and sultanas - and is SOOOOO good it's the only sure fire bribe I have to use on my daughter-lol.
One third of the pumpkin down, two thirds to go!
