The October Pumpkin Menu
The October menu is here and I've taken inspiration from the season's favourite food: the pumpkin. An unfathomable number of pumpkins are wasted each year (binned straight after carving, forgotten about, only ever seen as decoration) and it really is such a shame when they're so delicious. Here are my three recipes to make use of your pumpkins this October.
Traditionally chilli crisp is made with peanuts but here I'm using pumpkin seeds which work really well too. I had some dried ancho chilli which adds a wonderful warmth (rather than a hot heat) and a Kashmiri chilli in the cupboard. You can leave out the ancho if you don't have it and replace the Kashmiri with 1/2 teaspoon more chilli flakes.
Once you've made the pumpkin seed chilli crisp above, you can easily create this delicious speedy noodle dish. The easiest (and in my opinion the tastiest) way to eat pumpkin is to simply chop them up, toss them in some olive oil with a pinch of salt and roast them. Roasting them brings out an utterly delicious nutty sweetness similar to roasted chestnuts, which works so well with egg noodles and spring onions.
I've always loved the versatility of choux pastry: from different shapes, sizes, fillings and flavours. You really can eat them for any occasion. And for these little choux pastry puffs, I've added a pumpkin seed craquelin to the top, complimenting the warming spices. Generous lashings of salted butter caramel are optional, but highly recommended.
