This pumpkin was gratefully received from one of my fellow Crossfitters, and it’s quite a beast! Especially for one person. But it’s a high-quality challenge, and I’m ready to take it on. Fortunately pumpkin keeps very well so there’s no huge rush and I have plenty of time to try lots of different recipes. Here are a few of my plans but further suggestions are most welcome.

• Pumpkin Soup – Good, simple, reliable; something to add to the freezer soup stash for easy weekday lunches. I’ll either go for the classic curried pumpkin soup, though I spotted this squash soup seasoned with mixed spice on Kavey’s blog that sounds happy, like pumpkin pie in soup form (I’ll sub the bacon brittle for toasted pumpkin seeds)
• Pumpkin Hummus – Inspired by Kellie’s Roasted Pumpkin Hummus. I have made this once already and I’m not certain the pumpkiny-sweet hummus is for me. It definitely requires balancing with lots of toasted pumpkin seeds and a potent garnish (berbere, smoked paprika, piment d’Espelette or similar). My favorite dipping implement for this is broccoli or straight up raw kale.
• Pumpkin Laksa – Adapting Demuths recipe for Laksa Lemak from Rachel Demuth’s Green World Cookbook.
• Pumpkin Curry – Another gem from Rachel Demuth. A bit unusual with the orange juice, but all the better for it.
• Roast Pumpkin and Walnut Salad – Yes it’s another Rachel Demuth recipe. What can I say? She rocks the veg! I think I’ll roast the walnuts with a bit of chilli.
• Veggie Chilli – Either a winter riff on Mardi’s seasonal Summer Veg Chilli, or a twist on Abbey’s Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli (using pumpkin in place of sweet potato).
• Sambar with Pumpkin – From Jenny Chandler’s excellent book Pulse: Truly Modern Recipes for Beans, Chickpeas and Lentils, to Tempt Meat Eaters and Vegetarians Alike
• Pumpkin Bread? I’m not really doing the wheat thing at the moment but Laura’s Savory Pumpkin Loaf is pretty tempting, and could be particularly fitting for imminent Imbolc celebrations and its associated sheep cheese consumption.
• Pumpkin Smoothie? I have a pumpkin pie smoothie in my book, but Helen’s Pumpkin and Cranberry smoothie looks like a lot of fun, too.
• Frittatas. Lots of frittatas. With kale.