I remember eating freshly toasted pumpkin seeds as a kid. Since they are warm and salty and crunchy they make the perfect snack. And since crunchy snacks are fairly hard to come by on the specific carb diet, savor these while they last. My mother always made these in the oven, but I did some searching and found that pan toasting is way easy and way fast. It takes about 5 minutes from start to finish.
In a cast iron pan heat pumpkin seeds on medium-high heat, nothing extra is needed. Stir occasionally to ensure the seeds do not burn. When they start to develop all-over color, taste one to see if it's crunchy all the way through. If so, take off the heat add a couple of drops of olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Voila- done!
I have to ask a dumb question . . . Are pumpkin seeds to be eaten whole, or should one crack it and remove the seed inside the way one would eat sunflower seeds? I had a bunch that would not release the inside seed, so I threw them away!
ReplyDeleteThat is not a dumb question, I can understand where you are coming from. Pumpkin seeds can be eaten whole, as the ones that are pictured are. No need to crack them open, in this sense they are a lot easier than sunflower seeds! I wouldn't recommend eating them raw, however. Hope this helps.
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