Happy Halloween from the Fairy Princess & Roasted pumpkin with rosemary and sage

Boo! Happy Halloween. 

I wanted to make some scary treats for Halloween, but I think my kids are at the age where anything remotely scary placed in front of them would be labelled as "ugly" and shunned. Like their mother, they are much more fond of cute and pretty things. Ah, maybe when they grow a little older, I can experiment with creepy crawlies and ghosts!

What they do know about Halloween is that it's the time of the year when we see lots of pumpkin in the supermarket and in the shop windows as decor. Baby C's got this cute "pumpkin" bag which we take out whenever it's close to Halloween too. Around this time of the year, I also make a lot of pumpkin-related dishes such as soups, muffins, loaves and the easiest of them all, roasted pumpkin since my kids are very fond of this fall vegetable. 

Roasted pumpkin with rosemary and sage

Though simple, for us, this is one of the best ways to enjoy pumpkin. Pumpkin goes very well with herbs such as sage and rosemary, both of which we now have growing in our herb garden. Because we cut them into bite-size chunks, they took only around 15 minutes to roast. This would make a great accompaniment to any meat dish. You don't need much else, other than seasoning it with salt and pepper, since pumpkin is a naturally sweet vegetable. This is a good recipe for using up all the leftover pumpkin from Halloween.

Pumpkin in its raw form (you can remove the seeds and make your own roasted pumpkin seeds)

Roasted pumpkin with rosemary and sage
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
600g ripe pumpkin, cut into 4 x 3cm chunks
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
A handful fresh rosemary, leaves snipped
4-5 fresh sage, whole
2 tbsp butter, cut into small chunks
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3-4 sprigs of rosemary, to garnish

1. Firstly, place olive oil, rosemary and sage in a bowl and allow herbs to infuse into the oil for 10-15 minutes.

2. Place aluminium foil on a large baking tray. Using a brush, brush a thin layer of oil onto the foil. Place the pumpkin on the tray in a single layer.

3. Brush the pumpkin pieces with the herb oil, and then sprinkle the herbs over the pumpkin. Scatter the butter pieces in between the pumpkin pieces. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Bake in 170°C preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until tender and the top layer looks slightly wrinkled. Remove from oven and serve in individual ramekins. Garnish with fresh rosemary sprig.

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Wishing you all a frightful Halloween... have a fa-boo-lous day, whatever you've got planned!

*Like my scary lil' ghost? Shaped from a sage leaf. Recipe for the muffins will be posted in December 2012.

Happy Halloween from the fairy princess ;)

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 5 November 2012.