Ricotta stuffed munchkin pumpkin with vegetable crisps

Munchkin pumpkins, those sweet mini sized pumpkins, are so cute and versatile in side or main dishes especially in this season. They simply make the perfect Halloween food and something that kids also enjoy. And as you can see, I bought a pile of them.

Today's recipe is an effortless ricotta stuffed munchkin pumpkin served with some vegetable crisps from the shop – easy! This recipe can be easily expanded for several pumpkins and this is how it's done.

Munchkin pumpkins

Ricotta cheese (about 30g per pumpkin)

1 garlic clove

Applewood smoky cheddar (optional)

Lemon & Pepper breadcrumbs

1 small bag of vegetable crisps (mine were parsnip, beetroot and sweet potato crisps)

Smoked pepper hummus (my recipe for this special hummus will be posted here soon)

Rocket

Cut a small lid off the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Chop the garlic finely and grate the smoky cheese. Mix the stuffing ingredients (ricotta, garlic, cheddar and breadcrumbs) together and fill the pumpkin with it. Place the lid back on.

Bake the pumpkin at 180C for about one hour until fully baked. Serve it on a bed of rocket with the vegetable crisps and hummus.

Enjoy the cosy autumn evenings!

Your VegHog

Pear and walnut salad

I wanted to post a fresh and quick salad on this occasion just as a change to the autumn style dishes. This salad can be enjoyed at any time of the year. A pear and walnut salad is a classic, but I wanted to make somehow a different one. I first was reluctant to use a garlic and honey vinaigrette in this salad, but it turned out to be a rather interesting choice.

The salad:

Pear

Walnuts

Rocket

Ricotta cheese

The vinaigrette:

Garlic

Olive oil

Honey

Vinegar

Salt

Make the vinaigrette first. You could also use another salad sauce for this salad or even leave it as it is as pear is quite a juicy fruit.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the finely chopped garlic. Add honey and vinegar and simmer for a while. Add salt and the vinaigrette is done. Add more of any ingredient depending on the taste.

Roast the walnuts in a dry pan for a few minutes. Peel the pear and make thin shavings of it with a peeling knife. There are quite many possibilities to present the pear, but this time I decided to make the thin shavings.

Mix the rocket leaves with the vinaigrette and place them on a plate. Put the walnuts, pear and ricotta on the top and the salad is ready to be enjoyed. Easy!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog