Culinary pumpkins are dense, have sweet flesh and are grown for taste

If Easter eggs appeared next week it wouldn’t surprise me. We’ve adopted the American traditions of trick or treating, carving pumpkins instead of turnips and ultimately making the whole thing an opportunity for the supermarkets to make a few pounds in between barbecue season and Christmas.

The pumpkins you buy in supermarkets are grown specifically for ease of carving and not for their taste.

A proper culinary pumpkin has dense, sweet flesh and are grown for taste. You’d need power tools to get into them to carve them. Every year I go to Slemish Market Garden in Ballymena to pick up pumpkins and squashes. Lori McCook, one of the owners, is originally from Virginia in the States and is an expert in growing. This year the family grew thousands of pumpkins – quite a spectacular sight. When I was there earlier in the week there were only about 1,000 left and I suspect they’ll all be gone by Halloween. Apparently a lot of people buy them for their appearance. When you see the range from duck egg blue hued Crown Prince, to deep orange onion squash, to acorn squash that are deep green, you can understand how they’d make a great artistic arrangement.

The beauty of them is they keep for a long time in a cool place. The best way to prepare them is to carefully cut them in half, then into wedges, remove the skin and roast them with some oil, salt and a few sprigs of rosemary.

You can use them for soup, dice them and add to casseroles, toss into risotto or even turn them into a curry.

For the recipe this week, layers of sliced pumpkin, pasta sheets, sausage ragu and a smoky cheese sauce with a hint of nutmeg are whizzed into a lasagne.

The ragu has a touch of chilli and fennel that pairs well with the sweet pumpkin and the whole thing is brought together with a silky cheese sauce.

If you’ve any pumpkin left over I find blending it into a smooth puree and freezing works well.

There are many food traditions here around Halloween, including bobbing for apples and eating barnbrack and potato apple.

When I first heard about potato apple I thought it sounded a bit strange – stewed apple encased in potato bread and griddled.

Surely potato bread was something you had on a fry with bacon and egg? But in reality it’s one of the nicest things. Bread straight off a hot griddle is always a joy and this is no exception.

If you don’t have a griddle use a heavy based frying pan. Either way use a good floury spud, some Armagh Bramleys and you won’t go wrong.