How to roast a whole pumpkin

A lot of American recipes call for canned pumpkin. I don't know if you can actually buy it here, I haven't checked, but it's certainly not an everyday pantry item. Besides, I like to avoid cans, because waste and expense.

Since roast pumpkin tastes so much better than boiled or microwaved, roast pumpkin puree is obviously the way to go, so I've always chopped up my pumpkin and roasted it to use in recipes that call for canned pumpkin. However, I recently tried a method with less prep work, and I don't think I’ll ever go back.

Roast pumpkin (whole)

Ingredients

• 1 whole smallish pumpkin
• Olive oil for brushing

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Wash and dry the pumpkin, any dust left on the skin can cause problems as it collapses with cooking.
3. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy bis.
4. Brush cut face with olive oil and place face down on a rimmed baking tray. If there's no lip, you will end up having to clean pumpkin juice off the bottom of your oven. Don't ask me how I know.
5. Put the tray in the oven, and cook until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork. This will vary depending on the size of your pumpkin, but it will probably take around 1.5 hours, start checking earlier if your pumpkin is on the smaller side.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you can safely touch it.
7. Flip the pumpkin over, and scoop the flesh out. I transfer it to a bowl and roughly mash it. If you need it to be sans any stringy bits for a more fancy dish (such as scones), then you can either push it through a mesh sieve, or attack it with a stick mixer or blender. If you're baking with it, you may also wish to drain it through a strainer to get rid of the excess water.

Pumpkin-based recipes coming soon (I hope!).