The Collector Village Pumpkin Festival was held again for the sixth time on Sunday 3^rd May. It is always held on the first Sunday in May each year, and this year we were lucky enough to have one of those classic still, bright and clear autumn days.

The Festival was initially conceived around a dinner table, with a few people dreaming of the idea of some kind of festival to celebrate all that was good about living in a small village like Collector. One of the pleasures of living in a community like Collector is the sense of space, land and productivity from that land, so the idea of attaching the celebration to growing and harvesting food seemed natural, not unlike the origin of many village festivals throughout Europe.

So pumpkins ended up as part of that dinner table conversation, and then that sparked several other conversations, most notably ending up with a fellow named Joe Medway, or as he is more famously known, ‘Pumpkin Joe’. Joe, a former champion large pumpkin grower of national repute lived nearby in Goulburn, and he astonished us all with tales of pumpkins the size of tractor tires.

What we thought may be a humble little celebration of growing and eating these vegetables suddenly took on a whole other perspective – and in a way the path of the conversation we had with Joe echoes what the festival has become – much, much bigger than we all could have expected or hoped for, but equally enriching, satisfying and a great source of collective pride among our community.

So you can imagine that after all these years I have become fairly well practised at pumpkin soup, and yes I plead guilty -I could give you a recipe for 1440 serves made in ten batches, which I did do one year, however I doubt that information will be useful for anyone planning to knock up a soup to have with the family through the week.

I do always try and enter the cooking competitions too, and this year I entered the best pumpkin pie competition which I tried to re-invent a little by turning the pie upside down. Next year I will maybe make a play for the best pumpkin scone competition.

When the pumpkins start arriving at the Collector Hall to be judged I am always amazed at the different varieties. They come in all shapes and sizes and colours. Colours range from bright orange to yellow to ochre; some fruits are dark green, pale green, red or grey. They definitely have character and personalities and some almost look prehistoric, with textures ranging from smooth to ribbed or knobbly. The keenest measure of the incredulity of these wacky, large and unusual pumpkins is their capacity to turn the eyes of children into dinner plates.

The size of pumpkins varies. The Atlantic Giants, sometimes grown for stock feed, but more often than not by people who get right into the possibilities of growing such a big thing within a season, can be enormous.

In the Collector Hall these giant things are presented like some kind of replica of Stonehenge. The largest one entered at Collector last week weighed 253 kilos grown by Ken Ryan who lives on the out skirts of Goulburn. Ken is a regular at the Festival and won several times before, and although he is a lovely fellow you will never get any secret tips out of him. The big pumpkin crew keep that stuff pretty close to their chests.

Anyway, with what are now cumulatively many years of playing around with the idea of pumpkins, I am still amazed at what a versatile ingredient it can be and the variety of different cultural interpretations. Currently, the Ottolenghi Cookbook, from the London-based restaurant of the same name, is the flavour of the month in our family at the moment, and has a great recipe for “Roasted butternut squash with burnt aubergine and pomegranate molasses”. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Tamimi produce inventive yet simple dishes from their years at the restaurant, many sourced and inspired by their respective childhoods in West and East Jerusalem.

Although we recently had this recipe with a BBQ lamb chop, we do agree with the authors’ conclusion that it can stand alone:

‘Butternuts mild sweetness and firm flesh make it suitable to go alongside most main courses, but also to serve on its own as a vegetarian centrepiece’.

The recipe is split into two parts– the roasted butternut and then the sauce, made from aubergine and yoghurt; and is scaled for 2 -4 serves.

Roasted Butternut Squash

1 large butternut squash

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tbsp black sesame seeds

1 tsp nigella seeds

10g sliced almonds

10g basil leaves

Coarse sea salt and black pepper

Sauce

1 medium aubergine

150g Greek yoghurt, at room temperature

2 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp pomegranate molasses(I did not use this)

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 garlic clove, crushed

1)  Preheat the oven to 220C. Trim the top and bottom off the butternut squash and cut in half lengthways. Remove the seeds using a small knife or a spoon. Cut each half into wedges 2-3cm thick. Arrange the wedges in a roasting tray, standing them up with the skin underneath if possible. Brush with half the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes, by which time the wedges should be tender and slightly browned. Leave to cool.

2)  Reduce the oven temperature to 180C. Scatter the seeds and almonds on a roasting tray and toast for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Leave to cool.

3)  For the sauce, place the aubergine on a moderate flame on a gas hob. Burn the aubergine for 12-15 minutes, until the skin dries and cracks and smoky aromas are released. Turn it around occasionally, using metal tongs. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

4)  Make a long cut through the aubergine. Using a spoon, scoop out the soft flesh while avoiding most of the burnt skin. Drain in a colander for 10 minutes, then transfer to a board and chop roughly.

5)  In a mixing bowl stir together the aubergine flesh, yoghurt, oil, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, parsley and garlic. Taste and season with salt and pepper. It should be sweetly sharp and highly flavoursome.

6)  Arrange the butternut squash wedges on a serving platter, piling them on top of each other. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil, sprinkle the nuts and seeds over and garnish with the basil. Serve the sauce on the side.