Roasting a Pumpkin
1 - Preheat the oven to 400F. Carefully cut pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy bits near the seeds (I use a tablespoon to scrape it all out). Save the seeds for making Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (see below).
2a - Put a piece of parchment on your baking sheet and place the pumpkin halves face-down on the baking sheet. This will be heavy and ungainly, so use two hands to move the baking sheet - especially when hot!
OR
2b - Instead of a baking sheet, you can also use a large roasting pan - place the pumpkin halves face-down and then add about 1/2 cup of water, enough to just cover the whole bottom of the pan. 
3 - Put the baking sheet with the pumpkin halves into the oven, and roast about 20-30 minutes - the skin will get dark and you can poke the pumpkin to see that it is getting soft.
4 - Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before handling. Flip the pumpkin halves over and use a large spoon to scoop out the roasted flesh for recipes (like Savory Pumpkin Soup). Or mash with a bit of butter and sea salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper for a tasty side dish.
One of the benefits of roasting pumpkins or other winter squash is having the seeds...
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin/squash seeds
1-2 tsp salt
water
Method
Preheat over to 400F. Clean the seeds well - I like to rinse them under running water in a colander to remove all the bits of pumpkin. Shake them until they are damp, and spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt and roast until lightly browned - about 10 minutes - occasionally stirring or shaking the pan to ensure they toast evenly.
If you have prepared pumpkin or butternut squash and do not have the time to roast the seeds, you can soak them in salty water for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
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