Thursday, November 5, 2009

Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds

The end of CSA season meant I've had seemingly one of every kind of squash in existence sitting in my kitchen waiting for me to be inspired to do something with them. Then the chef brought over a couple more squash just to mock me the other day. At that point there was no point in delaying it any longer, I took a knife to every squash in the kitchen and roasted them. This will force me to find something to do with their various roasted flesh as every time I open the fridge there they are tempting me. Tonight I simply warmed the acorn squash in some butter in a frying pan and was very happy with it.

However I'm very much my mother's daughter (no worries, I mean it in a good way mom) and the thought of all those squash seeds going to waste was unthinkable, I had to do something with them. I've never made roasted squash seeds before so it was fun to grab the first spice that came to me out of the spice cupboard. Cinnamon with salt sounded divine and it was. I was very pleasantly surprised with the results and made this same combination twice since then.

Even better than the cinnamony seeds themselves is that they are awesome in a salad. I've been hooked on throwing them in mixed greens and spinach with feta cheese and a vinaigrette of olive oil and fig vinegar. It's tastes way too good to be that simple.



Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds

pumpkin seeds
olive oil
salt
cinnamon

Reserve however many seeds you get from pumpkins and other random squashes you have around for cooking. Toss the slimy pits from around the seeds. Rinse the seeds then spread them over a baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350. Put just enough oil over the seeds so that they are coated. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon to suit your taste.

Bake for 20 minutes or until well toasted.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey -- made a recipe last night that was surprisingly good, from kind of a weird ingredient combo.

It's the lentil-almond stirfry from 101 Cookbooks. The only changes I made were adding a tbsp or so of soy sauce (could use tamari) and a weensy drizzle of sesame oil to the finished dish, and made the garnish sauce with cilantro instead of mint.

It was amazing -- it has potatoes, though, so I'm not sure it's "Montingnac" friendly.

Sharon said...

A friend of ours claims that simmering the seeds in slat water makes them even better when roasted, just FYI in case you do it again.

Emily said...

Sharon that's a genius idea. The salt water probably helps get the slime off them and makes them cook more evenly. I'll try that next time.