Pumpkin flan

Step 1

Toss pumpkin with 1 tsp salt and enclose in a muslin cloth or clean Chux. Place in a colander and set aside for 4 hours, squeezing every hour to remove liquid.

Step 2

Place drained pumpkin and milk in a pan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes or until a thickened puree.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a fluted 35cm x 11cm rectangular loose-bottomed tart pan. Roll out pastry until 5mm thick, then use to line pan, trimming excess. Chill for 30 minutes. Line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove weights and paper. Bake for a further 2-3 minutes until golden.

Step 4

Whiz almond meal and raw sugar in a food processor to a powder. Transfer to a bowl. Fold in pumpkin puree, then stir in butter and nutmeg to combine. Cool slightly, then add eggs and stir to combine.

Step 5

Pour mixture into flan case. Bake for 40 minutes or until pastry is golden, filling is set and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool flan in pan.

Step 6

Meanwhile, line a baking tray with baking paper and place pumpkin seeds in the centre. Combine caster sugar with 2 tbs water in a pan over medium-low heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high, bring to the boil, then cook, without stirring, for 6 minutes or until light golden. Pour over pumpkin seeds and set aside until toffee has set.

Step 7

Break pumpkin seed toffee into shards and sprinkle over the sliced flan to serve.