What Can You Make With a Pumpkin Besides Soup? Roast Wedges with Sage Butter
Halloween is on Saturday 31 October, and a lot of us have a pumpkin on the worktop with no plan for it. Roasting it in wedges is one of the simplest ways to turn it into dinner, and the oven does most of the work.
Your 20-minute timer
Tap start, then tick each step as you finish it.
Step 1: Pick a pumpkin made for eating
Large carving pumpkins are meant for decoration. They are harder to cut and their flavour and texture are weaker. For cooking, look for a small pumpkin sold for eating, often labelled a sugar or pie pumpkin, or use a butternut squash.
Step 2: Cut it into wedges
Wipe the skin with a damp cloth. Cut the pumpkin in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds and stringy middle, then cut each half into wedges about 3 to 4 cm thick. Keep the seeds for step 5.
Step 3: Oil and roast
Heat the oven to 200°C. Toss the wedges in oil and spread them in a single layer on a large tray, so they brown instead of steam. Roast for 20 minutes, turn them over, then roast for another 10 to 15 minutes until a fork goes in easily and the edges are browning.
Step 4: Sage butter
While the wedges finish, melt a knob of butter in a small pan over a gentle heat and add a few sage leaves. Let them sizzle for a minute or so until they turn crisp, then spoon the butter and leaves over the hot wedges with a pinch of salt.
Step 5: Roast the seeds too
Rinse the seeds and pull off the stringy fibres, then coat them in oil. Roast them until golden and crisp. One UK recipe spreads them on a small tray and roasts them for 10 to 20 minutes at 200°C; another roasts them for about 10 minutes at 180°C, so check them often and take them out as soon as they are golden.
Quick answers
Do I need to peel the pumpkin first?
Not necessarily. One UK recipe roasts the wedges with the skin on, and a UK veg-box company says the skin is edible when cooked properly. Another source says a thick skin is best peeled off after roasting, once it has cooled for about 10 minutes. If you are unsure, roast with the skin on and see how you like it.
What if I only have a carving pumpkin?
It will work, but expect a weaker flavour and texture. For the best result use a small eating pumpkin or butternut squash.
Next I'll show how to cut a pumpkin or squash safely, so the wedges are the easy part.