Probably the best pumpkin recipe in the world...

i have talked of my passion for eating pumpkin previously (an unusual culinary habit for an english girl). as all hallows is in spring now I'm a southern hemisphere-er i've less enthusiasm for the northern traditional celebrations, but the pumpkin passion endures. of all my many pumpkin-centric recipes, this is my favourite. personally because just I love strong flavoured food, but also in a culinary self-esteem raising way too, as no matter where i serve this I am always asked for the recipe. not that it's my recipe as such, it was an attempt to copy a hot pumpkin salad i ate out once (so if you know of the source of the original by any chance, do let me know). the fact that it's suitable for the northern hemisphere (served hot) or the southern (served chilled) is a bonus as i can both use that to convince the pumpkin-dubious english amongst you to give it a go (i know there are pumpkins in your shops right now!) and eat it year round, pumpkin availability notwithstanding.


pumkin & feta salad

pumpkin peeled and cubed (approx 1 inch cubes) anywhere between 750g and 1.5 kgs works
1-2 red capsicum sliced
1/2 red onion chopped
250 g feta cheese cubed
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds-toasted
1/4 cup pine nuts-toasted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cup chopped basil leaves (optional)


3 tbs olive oil
3 tbs balsalmic vinegar
1 tbs wholegrain mustard
Place in a lidded container and shake

salt and pepper

roast the sliced peppers until slightly charred. roast the pumpkin cubes-rolled in olive oil, cinnamon and garlic until just soft. allow to chill if serving cold. mix all the ingredients together and then stir through the dressing TO TASTE (if serving later, keep the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds aside until serving so they don't go soggy). then season to taste.



pumpkin eating aside, and given that claud refuses to touch the stuff no matter how i serve it (the english pumpkin-dubious genes endure it seems, sigh) i am keen to establish some halloween traditions for her. we visited her grandfathers grave today, in the spirit of the old world idea that all hallows is a time when the connections between the living and dead are closest. interesting. tricky. a bit to early. conclusion? claud "...dadas dada bed in the garden?". me. "mmm. yeah. kind of...". a less parentally stressful ritual has been the potting up of pumpkin seeds for planting out when the ground warms up further in a few weeks time. we've potted up Kings Seeds Amish Pie (cucurbita maxima) for eating, and baby bear (cucurbita pepo) for Clauds autumn entertainment. and though i'm not at all into the dressing-up-as-ghouls american approach (though this nearly swayed me), i have just taught claud a trick, and she is immensely keen on treats, and so it seems a visit to the neighbours is on the cards later...

i'd love to know what the halloween traditions are in your family or your part of the world, do tell!

(for me growing up in the north of england trick or treating was still a foreign novelty and halloween was all about the parkin. 


ps if you fancy a bit of halloween worthy truly 'scary'' food why not join me in the retro cook-off?

Linking up with Ta-Da! Tuesdays halloween special!

Happy Matariki!

                                                           (Image by Robert Gendler)

Happy Matariki! The Maori New Year begins with the rise of the Pleidies star cluster in the Southern hemisphere winter night sky alongside the new moon, which this year falls on Saturday June 4^th, or 6^th or 16^th  depending on the source of your information!
Traditionally it’s celebration involved eating, dancing and kite flying. I absolutely love the traditional Maori kites, I think because they remind me of the Angel of the North, except not grounded. You never seem to see them though, except in museums, and though I’d love to have a go at flying one, or even making one I can’t seem to find out much about it at all. 

The Angel of The North , a famous UK sculpture, by Anthony Gormley.

We celebrated Matariki with a special Matariki storytime at the Bishopdale library, Maori tats and Clauds first candle lit dinner.

Claud also went a little more crazed than is probably sensible before bedtime, on her first torch and starlit exploration of the garden. She span and span the torch round giggling and gasping, dashed into the ever moving spotlight, chased the disappearing into the blackness cats with her new tool of put-upon moggy-irritation; was fascinated by the insects-by-night, and all this night dancing to the tune of "ar", "ar", "sar" (star!). Awhh!

 The Southern Cross looked majestic, but the Pleiades were missing? The glow-in-the-dark-star-chart showed the Pleiades low to the horizon so we drove up to the rolling hills at the back of Loburn for a clearer view, but in the 10 minutes that took the cloud came down and the claud went home. Quick to sleep by twinkling fairy lights, and a story of winter (Bramby Hedge; Winter Story, by Jill Barklem,1980) dreaming perhaps of a cat that could be caught.

                Brambly Hedge, a fave from my childhood for the intricate drawings which I spent hours copying.
       (from this great blog http://anillustratorsinspiration.blogspot.com/2011/03/jill-barklem-and-other-animal- %20lovers.html)

Kite flying tommorow (the traditional type), lets hope for wind!

Autumn=Pumpkin

Growing up in the North of England it was unheard of to ever eat a pumpkin. They were to be scooped and lit once a year, that is all. I recall having the vague idea they were poisonous, at least until English telly became saturated with American shows and I learned of pumpkin pie.

Philistine!

A combination of moving to New Zealand and establishing a veggie garden have turned me into a pumpkin fanatic. Autumn=pumpkin. The kiwis are mad on pumpkin. Despite the fact we’ve eaten pumpkin in some guise nearly everyday this week (Penne a la Zucca, pumpkin Arancini di Riso; pumpkin risotto, pumpkin and potato pancakes etc) Mr Blackbirdhasspoken was really reluctant to put the knife into the butternuts for anything but eating purposes.

The lack of winter festivities is one of the very few difficulties of living in New Zealand. Reading ‘Celebrating the Southern Seasons’ by Juliet Batten (here, she blogs too, hurrah!) gave me confidence to institute some round our place. In recent years I’ve held a midwinter Christmas, with a secret santa and a big dinner in the middle of the day featuring a turkey, chestnuts and all the trimmings (sprouts!). As most of the invited kiwi’s had eaten neither turkey nor chestnuts, I think I’m excused on the initial pumpkin avoidance front.

A slightly pumpkin stained wee ghostie

This year with Juliet’s inspiration again and especially for THE little pumpkin entertainment purposes, we’ve also introduced a mini pumpkin fest. Pumpkin lanterns last night, and Pumpkin Moonshine for Claudine’s bedtime book this week, a classic tale from 1936. And more pumpkin eating.

We’ve also been taking Claudine outside at night, now it’s dark before her bedtime, to do some star gazing. She can say both ‘star’ and ‘moon’ now. Beautiful stuff.

                                                                  Two little pumkins