Pumpkin Pumpkin

I shall be carving a pumpkin for the first time this year.

Any tips?

ah wrong board.

Wow, this thread. I bought *two* pumpkins this year, because they were 99p in Tesco.

... one of which has started rotting already! Grr.

i paid nine dollars for a pumpkin and i'm still mad about it

I made pumpkin custard this weekend - very yum and perfect for breakfast. It separated into three layers - the top is darker w/ more nutmeg and thicker like a crust, then just under it is a layer that is just eggy custard, then the bottom is creamy pumpkiny spiced goodness.

There were giant iced pumpkin cookies at the market on Saturday.

Jaq, that pumpkin custard sounds gorgeous. Mind sharing the recipe?

Sure, it's an easy one Madchen. This is for 2 each 4 cup ramekins:

Heat oven to 300 deg F (slow oven).

Dewater 1 cup of steamed (or stewed or roasted or canned) mashed and strained pumpkin pulp by blotting on a thick layer of paper toweling.

Whisk 6 eggs until foamy. Mix in 4 cups whole milk. Stir in 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar, depending on how sweet you want it. Add your favorite pumpkin pie spices (some mix of nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon), about 3 teaspoons total. Finally, stir in the dewatered pumpkin pulp.

Pour mixture evenly into 2 4-cup ramekins. Put bain-marie pan on the oven rack, settle in the filled ramekins, then pour a pitcher of hot water into the bain-marie to come up at least an inch on the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 2 hours, until well set.

I think the layer thing was some magic of spices floating to the top and pumpkin sinking to the bottom.

Oh, also, a big pinch of salt!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7661142.stm

awesome pumpkin thing mrs F and i just tried:

• cut top off small pumpkin; scoop out seeds and seedy stuff
• stick a decent whack of butter in it, plus salt and pepper
• put top back on pumpkin
• microwave for five minutes
• open up, scoop yummy warm buttery pumpkin flesh off the walls and enjoy

my mom used to make the most amazing stuffed pumpkins. i should ask for the recipe.

i want to eat some pumpkin

now that i remember though, it was so much work last time i cooked one. it was impossible to cut and peel. do you roast it first, then scoop out the flesh?

I am obsessed with Japanese pumpkin (kabocha). It's surprisingly easy for me to replicate the way I had it in
Japan. I think I will be eating it all fall.

This is like pistachio pistachio.

What do you do when Halloween comes around and you have to make a jack o'lantern? I don't think you roast it. I never saw my mom roasting the pumpkin before scooping the gunk out before making pumpkin pie.

No, definitely no cooking the jack o'lantern. Although roasting it a little while after carving might give it some extra horrorshow zing, depending on what the design is.

bam i am talking about the flesh you eat, not the seeds and stringy gunk!

Ohhhhhh. haha

I have half of a jacaima/calebeza in my fridge. Is this different from kabocha? Can I eat it with the skin or should I cut it off?

The flesh might be moister/denser than kabocha, but they are both winter squashes so whatever you do with the kabocha skin you can do the same with the calebeza skin.

i made up a pumpkin pudding recipe this morning that is not so different from jaq's pumpkin custard above:
mix 1 can pumpkin, 2 eggs, tablespoon or so finely minced fresh ginger, 5 ground up cloves, pinch of allspice, pinch of nutmeg, pinch of cardamom, a few shakes of cinnamon, ~1/4 cup of dark honey, half can of coconut milk. put it in a small baking dish and bake on 375 for 40 minutes (or until the middle is set). this was great! i like the little pieces of ginger, much better than using dried ground ginger.

roasted pumpkin seeds_)(_)(_)(_)(_)(

I put olive oil on a bakin g sheet - 400 degrees oven for about 15 minute

salt it up

Wait until they are quite brown for some serious delight

%&^%^&%^&

Also great are roasted delicata and butternut seeds imho

We do pumpkin seeds with salt / olive oil / cumin

sometimes we've mixed it up by using Cavender's Greek seasoning, Old Bay, some other concoctions. Keep coming back to the orig trig.