- 1 smallish pumpkin
- Half a red onion peeled & chopped
- 4 small potatoes or equivalent peeled & diced (I used Dunbar Rover this time)
- Allan’s Chilli sauce
- Marjoram /oregano
- 3 rashers Ramsays streaky bacon
- Blackthorn sea salt & milled pepper
- 2 dessertspoons Homemade breadcrumbs
- 2 tsps pickled nasturtium seeds or capers
- Summer Harvest Rapeseed Oil
- Dripping if available.
- Chopped chives to garnish
- Pre heat oven to 200°C.
- Slice pumpkin in half and remove seeds and fibrous filling. The seeds can be oven dried then roasted and salted as a snack.
- Dig out sufficient pumpkin flesh to reduce the thickness of the shell by half. Chop up and place in a bowl.
- Take each empty shell and score the inside flesh lightly with a sharp knife (not through the skin) to reduce cooking time. Season with salt, pepper and herbs, drizzle with a little oil and place in oven in a tray or in a dish to roast.
- Meanwhile, heat dripping in a wok or frying pan – if you don’t have dripping use a generous drizzle of the rapeseed oil. Fry bacon until crispy – or as you like it.
- Add prepared onion and potato to pan and sauté until the edges start to colour then add pumpkin flesh.
- Season again and cook for a further 5 minutes. Stir in nasturtium seeds.
- Remove semi-roasted shells from the oven and divide the filling between the two halves. Sprinkle spoonfuls of breadcrumbs on each and return to oven for a further 15 minutes until thoroughly cooked through and toasted on the top.
- Shake chilli sauce over the finished dish, leaving the bottle on the table for those who like it hotter.
- Serve with a sprinkling of chives and maybe a side salad or a dollop of crème fraiche if you wish.
Video of Pumpkin recipe here
Producers: Skea organics for tatties, Allan’s Chilli Products for chilli sauce, Ramsay bacon, Blackthorn salt & Summer Harvest rapeseed oil.
This recipe can of course be vegetarian with more veggies & removing bacon & dripping.
In winter fresh chives are less available unless you buy a pot from a supermarket. Instead I pick them when we have a summer glut: sort, rinse, air-dry, chop & work into a pat of softened butter. Roll into mini sausages wrapped in clingfilm & chill in fridge. When solid again, freeze in batches & defrost when ready to use. By placing a slice of this chive butter on a hot dish, the butter melts adding flavour and the chives are left as a garnish, as fresh as the day they were cut. That’s what I did here.