Halloween

When I saw the large crate of pumpkins last week, I just had to buy a couple. I'm not obsessed with pumpkins, but they are amazing vegetables and I always feel happy when I see a big bunch of them. The pimply faced youth at the till cracked that I was the first one to buy pumpkins from him.


So yesterday, I decided it was time to have a little Halloween celebration and picked up some colourful dried Indian corn on the cob and small ornamental gourds and got to work.

So here are my hot tips:

• Draw a circle around the pumpkin handle to mark out the lid, then cut carefully with a large knife. Scoop out the seeds and stringy goo with your hands, then use a tablespoon to remove any leftovers from the walls of the pumpkin.
  
• Save the seeds if they are large, remove as much as possible from the pumpkin bits, wash and then you can roast them according to the roasted nuts recipe, but they need to be roasted for about twice the time, as they are fresh to begin with.
• I first drew the pattern with a permanent marker, then I used a small serrated vegetable knife to cut it out. The trick is to carefully insert the knife until it goes through the flesh, then carefully wiggle it along the drawn pattern.
• Because the pumpkin was fairly large, I used 4 tea lights in it. To make sure that there is enough air for the candles, rotate the pumpkin lid when putting it back on, it won't fit as well, but that will allow air in.