I'd never roasted a pumpkin before. Today seemed as good a time as any to try. I've made squash; this couldn't be much different. Also, the recipe I wanted to try was in Everyday Food. I knew it had to be fairly simple because that's a magazine I turn to for straightforward but full-flavored recipes.
So I set out all my ingredients and got to work.
The pumpkin just stared at me dauntingly. I could almost hear it taunting... you think you're going to peel me? Turns out peeling was the easy part. Trying to cut off the top and bottom of the pumpkin was the difficult part. I sharpened my 8-inch Wusthof chef's knife, but it barely seemed a match for the pumpkin's tough flesh. Out came my bread knife. I thought maybe I could saw the top off. At any rate, after a combination of the two, the task was finally accomplished.
Next up: peeling. My roommate has this really nice handheld peeler -- the whole thing sits in the palm of your hand and you just put one finger through a loop on the outside -- that was perfect for the task.
The rest of the recipe is beyond simple. Cut the pumpkin into chunks; peel and quarter some shallots; toss pumpkin and shallots with sage, salt and pepper, and oil; and pop it all in the oven.
While that was roasting, I cooked the pasta and mixed it with some of the pasta water, goat cheese, and butter.
And then once the pumpkin mixture was roasted and the pumpkin chunks nice and tender, I took it out of the oven and mixed it up with the pasta.
It was the perfect fall meal.
And because I had started with a whole pumpkin, I had a whole bunch of pumpkin seeds that could not possibly go to waste. I roasted those as well with a little water and some salt. Something else for me to snack on all day long!
