Category: Create

Now five ways! Updated for 2018; originally posted November 19, 2017

I have a recipe/technique I love for toasted pumpkin seeds, but it’s buried in/interwoven through this Lamb and Pumpkin Stew recipe. So no-one has to dig through that one, here’s the pumpkinseed recipe on its own, with some other flavor combination experiments:

• Gut a pumpkin (or multiple pumpkins).
• Get most of the goop off the seeds.
• Soak goopy seeds in heavily smoked-salted water overnight. (You could use un-smoked salt, I guess, but I like the extra layer of flavor.) I used 6 cups of boiling water and 1/2 cup of smoked salt + 6 cups of cold water, but I was soaking about ten pumpkins’ worth of seeds (I had managed a big community pumpkin-carving activity, with lots of people all carving pumpkins on the same porch, and it seemed a shame to throw so many seeds away…). So, the proportion is 2 tsp salt to every cup of water, and you need enough water to cover your seeds. (They’ll float. Don’t fret.) 2018 update: You can leave the seeds hella goopy when you soak them, and then–instead of trying to get the seeds out of the goopy brine, try to get the orange goop out instead. This was a lot faster, for some reason. A spider is also very helpful (the kind that’s like a small wire mesh colander-on-a-stick, used a lot in Asian cooking, not the arthropod).
• Rinse them off the next day. Lay a flour sack or linen tea towel on a sheet pan, and spread the seeds out on that to dry. (Do not use a loopy-pile towel or paper towels–too much stickiness/fiber transfer/annoying and gross.) It will take them a day or two to dry–just move them around a little whenever you walk past them, until they are dry to the touch. (2018 update: It occurred to me that I was writing from a place of privilege here. You can definitely dry them in a very low oven—180 degrees or so, for about 90 minutes—if you were in a hurry or if you are afflicted with kitchen vermin. I’m not judging. I lived in a hella roachy apartment building for a long time, and I know it’s not about your housekeeping; it’s about their knack for surviving anything once they have a foothold).
• When they are dry, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. (I like a slow oven. Some people roast seeds at 350 or 400 or even 425, but I like to give them a lot of time to dry out and crisp vs blasting them with heat and risking scorching. Sort of like the “slow and golden” school of marshmallow roasting vs the “set it on fire!” school.)
• Coat your seeds with some combination of seasonings that you like. I did four different kinds today. For 1/2 cup seeds, you want about 2 tsp fat and 2-3 tsp of other flavorings. (2018 update: I did the bacon-mushroom-thyme one again, and a new honey-orange, below.)

Bacon Mushroom Thyme (for omnivores)

• 1/2 cup cleaned/soaked/dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp bacon fat
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp pepper (I fresh-ground peppercorns in an electric spice grinder)
• 1 tsp porcini mushroom powder (standard caveat re. “I have access to weird ingredients”–the porcini powder was a gift from my dear friend/culinary partner/instigator Derek)

Spicy Orange Duck (for omnivores)

• 1/2 cup cleaned/soaked/dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp duck fat
• 1/2 tsp applewood smoked salt
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp dried orange peel
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper

Spicy Honey (vegetarian)

• 1/2 cup cleaned/soaked/dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp grapeseed oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Vaguely Greek* (this one is vegan)

• 1/2 cup cleaned/soaked/dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp dried lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp pepper

*If I do this one again, I would either infuse the oregano in the oil for longer first, or I would add the oregano partway through the toasting. This time through, the oregano got quite scorched.

Different Spicy Honey (2018)

• 1/2 cup cleaned/soaked/dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp grapeseed oil
• 1.5 tsp Mike’s Hot Honey
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried orange zest
• Big pinch of smoked salt

The method is the same for all the flavorings:

• Put your seasonings of choice in an oven-safe bowl that is big enough for however many seeds you want to do.
• Warm seasonings in the oven for about 5 minutes so fat melts/honey liquifies/flavors combine; whisk with a fork.
• Add seeds and stir to coat.
• Spread out in a single layer on a sheet pan–you can put baking parchment on the sheet pan if you want (I did, just for easier cleanup).

• Toast them for about an hour and a half, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until they are toasty-gold and/or they make dry-autumn-leaf rustling sounds when you stir them. Kind of hard to say because different seasonings have vastly different color and burnishing clues. This is a long time, I admit, but this low temperature/long time makes the seeds very crispy, which to me is the most important quality.
• Take them out of the oven and try not to burn your mouth. They’ll stay good for more than a week in a ziploc bag or airtight container, but they probably won’t last that long.

I originally posted this as a Facebook note in January 2013, but people ask me for this recipe from time to time and Facebook notes are getting weird. (e.g., I post a link that works for me, and other people can’t access it.)

A friend commented on the note, “Make Friends With Kale Salad? As in, ‘Become a friend of kale,’ or ‘Use kale to make friends with others’?” The answer is “Both!”

This makes a lot—my biggest salad bowl. I usually make it for potlucks/parties, and I don’t think I have ever had leftovers—but if I did I would be happy, because it’s kind of a pain to make only three or four servings of this, and it keeps long enough to eat for lunch a few days in a row.

• 2 bunches kale–green curly, red curly, Lacinato, or a combination
• 3 cups other salad green(s) you like. (I like a mix of parsley and arugula best.)
• 2 bunches scallions (or about 6-8 shallots, if the scallions at your grocery store are pathetic)
• 2 Granny Smith apples (or other apple you like/can get)
• Fresh garlic as you like—at least 2 fat cloves, up to 8 fat cloves
• 3 lemons
• 1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
• Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar (possibly—depends on how juicy the lemons are)
• 1.5 tsp Penzey’s shallot pepper seasoning, or a mix of salt, pepper, and dried herbs you like in salad
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

Ideal equipment: Knife, whisk, huge salad bowl, salad spinner, garlic press, lemon reamer, liquid measuring cup with spout.

Tear the tough stems out of the kale (like 2/3 of the way up the leaf—leaving some stem is nice for texture, especially with red kale which is so pretty) and wash it in two changes of water. Spin dry and set aside.

Trim parsley and arugula to your liking; wash in two changes of water (curly parsley in particular can hold a lot of grit); spin dry and set aside.

Press the garlic into the salad bowl. You could also mince/smash/mash it with a bit of sea salt if you’re all anti-garlic-press like Anthony Bourdain, or if you don’t have a garlic press.

Wash the scallions, trim off the root ends and any wiltiness at the top of the greens, and slice them as finely as you have patience for. Put them in the bowl with the garlic. (If using shallots: Peel, trim root ends. Mince a couple of them; slice the rest very thinly and muddle them a little so they fall apart into rings.)

Squeeze the lemons into the liquid measuring cup, pick out the seeds with a fork, and add vinegar if necessary to make 3/4 cup. Pour over garlic and scallions-or-shallots. Add seasonings and mustard. Mix well with whisk.

Pour oil very slowly into the lemon juice/vinegar/allium/mustard mixture, whisking constantly.

Quarter and core the apples and slice them directly into the dressing. You can make them a little chunky or thin. I like them slightly better in thin slices. Stir well to coat apples with dressing. (The lemon keeps them from turning brown).

Shred the kale and other green(s) of choice into thin ribbons (about 1/4 inch)—for the kale, stack/roll as many leaves as you can hold down with one hand and slice across. (This is called a “chiffonade.”) For the other green, just use your own judgment. (Arugula and parsley are too small to use the chiffonade technique so I just bunch ’em up and chop pretty finely.)

Add greens to salad bowl and toss gently but thoroughly until well coated with dressing.

This can sit at room temperature for several hours (hence ideal for potluck) and in the fridge for a couple-three days without getting wilty and gross.

Walnuts would be a good addition if that sounds appealing to you—but I would add them to each serving on the plate, not toss them in [because (a) nut allergies, and (b) walnuts could get soggy sitting in dressing for too long.]