Charlie’s Pickled Pumpkin

You can make the pickle well in advance, we pickle some of our pumpkins to help preserve gluts from the garden. Serve the pickled pumpkin on crostini with ricotta and sage - it’s a great bite to have while you wait for the main event.

Charlie Hibbert is Chef Director at Thyme. This recipe was first published in House & Garden.

For the pickling

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp fennel seed

A pinch of chilli flakes

2 bay leaves

400ml cider vinegar

300g caster sugar

70ml water

For the crostini

¼ loaf stale sourdough bread

20-30 sage leaves

300g ricotta

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

For the pickled pumpkin, halve the pumpkin and de-seed each half.

Slice thinly into half-moons.Put the pickling ingredients into a pan big enough for the pumpkins and bring to the boil. Add in the pumpkin and cover with a round of baking parchment. Cook for 10 minutes over a medium heat or until the pumpkin is soft. Allow to cool completely or jar for later use.

To make the crostini., slice the loaf as thinly as you can. Lay the slices on a baking tray and drizzle olive oil over them. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Cool completely.

Put the vegetable oil into a high sided pan and over a medium heat. After 3-4 minutes check the temperature of the oil by dropping in a sage leaf: it should fizz and cook crisp in about 30 seconds. If the oil is hot enough fry the rest of the sage, lifting the leaves out of the oil with a slotted spoon. Drain on kitchen paper.

Spread some ricotta onto your crostini, top with the pumpkin, and a crispy sage leaf. Add a crack of black pepper and serve.