What could be better and more Fall-y than carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds?
It just isn’t Halloween until that ‘lil seasonal adventure and fun happens. Each year I get older, and I feel a little less inclined to do the whole pumpkin patch extravaganza. I allllmost didn’t do it this year. But then I was like, wait. No. You’re not that old yet, you have to go! I don’t know what came over me.
I had a weird post-college old lady-like moment of lapsed judgement. It passed quickly. When I promptly went to my favorite pumpkin patch in my childhood hometown last weekend, I knew I wanted to find the perfect sizeable pumpkin not only for the carving I wanted to do…but also cuz I wanted to make sure there were tons of great seeds for roasting! I’m like the pickiest pumpkin picker ever, but this year I didn’t have too much trouble finding a nice one!
Growing up my older sister Caroline and I would always try and come up with cool and unique flavor combos, and we’d usually do savory and sweet versions. This year, with me being in the baking program and always surrounded by sweets, I was craving pure salty snacks, so I went with two of those.
Plus…you guys. Sometimes I just NEED texture. Y’know what I mean? Maybe it’s a vegetarian thing…but sometimes I feel like I just don’t get enough crunch going on a lot of the time. These lil seeds are wonderfully full of crunchy texture and blasts of salty flavor. Perfect little snack for me indeed.
Dryin ’em out:
I used the seeds from one large-ish pumpkin and one small pumpkin (probably about 2 1/2 cups total seeds). First, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rinse your seeds and make sure they are free of pumpkin goop. Spread out the whole amount of seeds in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake for about 30 minutes to dry them out. Then season them with directions below.
Rosemary, Meyer Lemon and Parmesan Pumpkin Seeds:
Zest from 2 very small Meyer lemons
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary (stemmed and chopped), or 1 tablespoon dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt, to taste
Sriracha Garlic Pumpkin Seeds
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 large clove garlic, grated with a zester
1-1/2 teaspoons sriracha (to taste)
Toss the seeds with the ingredients above, and spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for another 20 minutes at 300 degrees.
And there ya go. Obviously, they are incredibly versatile, easy and you could do pretty much anything you wanted to them! I like these two flavors cuz they’re really different from each other, but totally satisfy that afternoon salty things craving. Yay Halloween and pumpkin things. The year and seasons just get better from here!
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