and wondered what to do with it.
It never ceases to baffle me that the organic produce here is expected to be lumpen, scarred, and stuck with clods of earth. Perhaps it's just fashion - or more likely some stoic/puritan aspect to the English nature that requires us to not only grow food without fertiliser, but to soil it before selling. So far from the cornucopia that is a continental farmer's market, where the produce is preened, polished and piled to perfection by their proud, small-time growers. But that's by the by.
So, what to do with a pumpkin? Soups, chutneys, jams*, all sprang to mind, but I was hungry for that, so I roasted a load of it up. And what better to serve it with than pumpkin seeds? Tossed into a semi-autumnal stir fry of mushrooms, courgettes, and that most underrated portion of a chicken, the thigh.
The thigh, you ask? Indeed. There is little better than a chicken thigh, sliced into strips (with the skin intact, obviously), soused with salt and pepper and fried in sesame oil at a high heat, until it is a moist, soft-slash-crunchy, spicy delight. A little akin to a poor man's pork scratching (if such a thing could exist).
Admittedly, the pumpkin seeds formed only a small part of the accompaniment, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it. The leeks were merely an extra - and I have no idea what leeks are doing at this time of year - they were cooked in the style of Mr Rhodes, by sautéing in butter.
Stay tuned for part two!
* find me some crab apples and I shall make you the most famous crab apple jelly pumpkin jam - a recipe that currently exists only in my head.
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