Pumpkin Pumpkin

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I don't know if you can buy canned pumpkin puree in the UK but it really is just as good as making it yourself, which can be quite a pain. The scooped-out bits aren't good for anything except roasting the seeds, though.

teeny (teeny), Friday, 28 October 2005 13:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Teeny OTM - the stuff you scoop out before carving is that stringy, seedy business. Raw pumpkin flesh is very hard and is generally left intact in a jack-o-lantern, but you could go at it with a curved knife, like a hoof knife. The seeds are good roasted, plain, or with salt, or cumin. I like to roast them in a tiny bit of oil rather than dry roasting.

Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I like to sprinkle cayenne and soy sauce on my pumpkin seeds before roasting. Also, I second Jaq's bit-of-oil -- it helps make the cayenne stick.

SO NUMMY. But make sure you get rid of all of the strings and goopy bits before roasting!

The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha, I was going to start this thread as I too have a pumpkin and very little clue of what to do with it. I thought curries or some sort of chilli (I have no idea where I got that idea from, but would it work?).

Also curried pumpkin soup is a given, but I need some other stuff.

ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Perfect idea for Madchen!

There are a whole load of recipes on the BBC site - I think I'll be trying AWT's pumpkin lasagne recipe which sounds fab.

ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 29 October 2005 08:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice cookies!

Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 29 October 2005 16:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Pumpkin and chickpea curry!

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 30 October 2005 04:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Know what? I can't be bothered to carve my pumpkin. I think I'm just going to chop it up and make things with it. /boring

Mädchen (Madchen), Sunday, 30 October 2005 19:57 (eighteen years ago) link

The pumpkin lasagne was k-bland. Not to be recommended. Madchen, you have to carve your pumpkin. And take photos! Neil's doing ours tomorrow when I'm at work so it can be sitting in the window when I come home and it's dark outside.

ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 30 October 2005 22:05 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...
Lately I have discovered that pumpkin keeps for ages and ages and ages. See that pumpkin I was asking about back in October? Finally carved it up on 30th December, mate. And it was still perfectly good.

So far, I have made Slater's Pumpkin Dhal Soup (a bit meh - couldn't really taste the pumpkin), mashed it with carrots, butter and black pepper (nice) and made several pumpkin and sage risottos (strabuoni).

I had so much of the stuff I still have two old Carte D'Or tubs full of chunks in the fridge. My only regret is that I can't try ice-cream until I have lost, like, three stone.

Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link

I kept a butternut squash for 6 months last year, which ended up being a week or two too long. I stocked up on yams, onions, apples, and hard squash at the final market in October, and so far everything is holding up pretty well. Pumpkin is just so excellent.

Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 21:37 (eighteen years ago) link

I made soup with my pumpkin too (eventually). Pumpkin and sweetcorn, with crunchy roasted sweetcorn on top (from Delia's veggie book). It was a potentially lovely combination but Delia is mad for her unecessary dairy products isn't she? There was something like a pint of milk in the recipe, which had the effect of taking half the flavour out of the finished soup. But at least I know what to change next time.

Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 09:40 (eighteen years ago) link

eight months pass...
Pumpkin people, can I treat a little sugar pumpkin like any other winter squash (ie cut it in half, scoop out the guts, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and roast) or is it so bland as to require further adulteration?

Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 9 October 2006 17:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Roasting like that sounds like the perfect treatment. Maybe a tiny dash of cayenne or cumin?

Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 9 October 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I actually want to stuff it with apple/sausage/cornbread stuffing and then bake it, which is something I have done with a buttercup squash with great success. I'll stuff the pumpkin (not a euphemism) later this week and report back.

Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 9 October 2006 20:35 (seventeen years ago) link

one year passes...

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

Any tips?

Ste, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 13:18 (sixteen years ago) link

ah wrong board.

Ste, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 13:24 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Madchen, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 14:26 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Madchen, Friday, 26 October 2007 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link

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

jergïns, Saturday, 27 October 2007 17:32 (sixteen years ago) link

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, Monday, 29 October 2007 17:40 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Madchen, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Jaq, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 17:25 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh, also, a big pinch of salt!

Jaq, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Madchen, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 20:55 (sixteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

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
this is probably the most out-of-proportionally delicious thing, weighed up against time and effort to prepare, that i've ever eaten.

easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 12 October 2008 14:46 (fifteen years ago) link

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

highly theoretical, of course. (tehresa), Sunday, 12 October 2008 15:17 (fifteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

i want to eat some pumpkin

harbl, Wednesday, 16 September 2009 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link

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?

harbl, Wednesday, 16 September 2009 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Virginia Plain, Thursday, 17 September 2009 20:42 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

bamcquern, Thursday, 17 September 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Hugh Manatee (WmC), Friday, 18 September 2009 00:30 (fourteen years ago) link

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

harbl, Friday, 18 September 2009 01:05 (fourteen years ago) link

Ohhhhhh. haha

bamcquern, Friday, 18 September 2009 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link

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?

Virginia Plain, Monday, 28 September 2009 13:25 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Jaq, Thursday, 1 October 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

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.

positive reflection is the key (harbl), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 16:07 (thirteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

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

%&^%^&%^&

| (Latham Green), Friday, 4 November 2022 17:32 (one year ago) link

Also great are roasted delicata and butternut seeds imho

Half Japanese Breakfast (outdoor_miner), Friday, 4 November 2022 19:52 (one year ago) link

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.

blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 4 November 2022 19:54 (one year ago) link


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