A LA GRAHAM: ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween last night. We had fun dressing up and trick or treating but it was a little chilly for the costumes so it was short lived which was fine by me...less candy the better! My daughter wanted to carve another pumpkin today, so while she was busy with the jack-o-lantern I made the pumpkin seeds to snack on.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Adapted from simply recipes

Seeds from a carved pumpkin
olive oil
salt

Cut open the pumpkin by cutting a circle around the stem end with a sharp knife (knife blade angled in), and pulling off the top. Use a strong metal spoon to scrape the insides of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and strings. Carve your pumpkin and place the mass of pumpkin seeds in a colander and run under water to rinse and separate the seeds from everything else.

Measure the pumpkin seeds. Place the seeds in a medium saucepan. Add 4 cups of water and 2 tablespoon of salt to the pan for every 1 cup of pumpkin seeds. Add more salt if you would like your seeds to be saltier. Cover and bring the salted water and pumpkin seeds to a boil, turn down heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan or thick baking sheet with olive oil, about a teaspoon or so. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan in a single layer, and toss them a bit to coat them with the oil on the pan. I like to sprinkle a little course salt on the seeds and then bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, for medium seeds about 10-15 minutes. Small pumpkin seeds may toast in around 5 minutes or so, large pumpkin seeds may take up to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pumpkin seeds so they don't get over toasted.