Pumpkin seeds are delicious and versatile. You can grind them down into “nut” meal. We make a pumpkin-seed frangipane tart, by grinding them down – do this, then find a recipe that uses nut meal and substitute.
In the restaurant, we make pumpkin-seed milk as you would make nut milk: soaking the seeds, then blending and squeezing through a cloth. We use it to finish dressings and sauces for raw fish or salads and vegetables, or as you might any dairy milk. We make pumpkin-seed miso in the restaurant, and a really nice pumpkin-seed pastry that is nutty and delicious.
At home, I always have a jar of lightly toasted pumpkin seeds in the cupboard; they go on everything from my porridge to fruit salads to savoury salads. They’re great for texture and, because they’re quite fatty, they give a bit of body and presence.
You can make a really nice dip as well: soak them in an equal quantity of water overnight, then if you have a really powerful blender, blend them with the water, as if you were making nut milk but don’t strain it. Then you want to season with salt and a bit of acidity – we would add pumpkin-seed miso to it, because we have it, but you could also stir in white miso that you buy in the shop. It’s vegan, dairy free, low environmental impact – what’s not to like?
To get UK-grown pumpkin seeds, you can try Hodmedods or Frinton Farms. Generally, you’ll see there are dark green flat ones and then a paler, more rounded one; apparently the paler green ones have been heat treated. The darker ones, you can pop. Toss them in a pan over a medium heat with the tiniest amount of oil – just enough to coat the pan – then cover and keep moving the pan. They’ll pop – they don’t turn inside out and explode like popcorn does, but they puff open. That is probably the most delicious incarnation of a pumpkin seed.
Pamela Brunton is chef-owner of Inver, Strathlachlan
