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What to Do with a Pumpkin
By Kelly Midura
Depending on your current post, pumpkins may be scarce. But in many parts of the world pumpkins are available, just not in the place you'd expect to find them. For example, here in Prague, they are usually sold at garden stores as decorations, but are not normally found in grocery stores. Whatever the origin of your collection of orange beauties, you may be wondering what to do with them once Halloween is over. Fear not, they have a multitude of uses!
It will probably come as startling news to some of you that pumpkin pies don't grow in cans. No, the really good pies start out as Jack O' Lanterns or other fall decorations. The best eating pumpkins are not usually the ones we use for carving, though those are perfectly edible once you cook some of the extra moisture out of them. For eating purposes, choose the deep orange "sugar pumpkins" or the orange and green ones that look more like giant acorns than Linus' Great Pumpkin.
To cook a pumpkin, clean off the outside (with a garden hose if necessary) and slice it into about 8 wedges. Put these in a roasting pan, or some other baking pan with one or two-inch sides, and bake uncovered at a low temperature (about 150 degrees Celsius) for about 45 minutes, until a fork goes into the pumpkin pulp easily. Cool to room temperature and slice the rinds off.
At this point you can either cut the pulp into cubes and freeze in plastic bags or other containers, or put the pulp in the blender with a bit of water and turn it into pumpkin puree, also suitable for the freezer. I freeze 1-cup portions so that it is easy to use in recipes later. Later on, you can defrost the pumpkin and use it straight out of the bag, or you may wish to cook it over low heat for a few minutes to thicken it (some pumpkins have more water in the pulp.) If you are measuring out a more watery pumpkin for the freezer, add ¼ cup extra to every cup to account for evaporation later when you cook it.
When you are slicing up your pumpkins or carving them for Jack O' Lanterns, save the seeds! They are a healthy snack, and quite delicious if you prepare them correctly (see recipe below.) Just use your fingers to separate the seeds from the stringy stuff under running water. Kids usually think this is hilarious so it makes a great job for them-tell them it is pumpkin "brains."
Now, I know you're all wondering if you can use your Jack O' Lantern to make pies when Halloween is over! I have no idea what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would say about this, but when I was growing up, my mother always used Jack to make pies later and we never got sick. I figure if it's been cold outside, the pumpkin hasn't been sitting there more than a few days, and it doesn't look or smell funny or have critters living in it, then it's fine, and I cook it up. But, as they say in cyberspace, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary!)
Here are a few favorite pumpkin recipes from AAFSW members:
Pumpkin Bread
Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Curry Pumpkin Soup
My Favorite Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Gingerbread
Pumpkin Risotto
Caribbean Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
Pumpkin Bread
This recipe can also be found at http://www.allrecipes.com.
(I have made a couple of minor additions and changes.) -- Kelly Midura,
Prague
This bread freezes really well, and keeps for two weeks in the refrigerator. Try it toasted with cream cheese on top!
Makes 2 loaves.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups white sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two loaf pans.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder,
nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and cloves.
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend sugar, oil and eggs.
Stir in pumpkin. Slowly blend the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture.
While blending the mixture add water incrementally. Fold in walnuts. Pour
the batter into two prepared loaf pans.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 90 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans.
Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
This recipe can also be found at http://www.allrecipes.com.
(I have made a couple of minor additions and changes.) --Kelly Midura,
Prague
This was a big hit at my daughter's Halloween party. Store in an airtight container.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds, washed, and dried on paper towels.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
2. Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce and
pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in shallow baking dish.
3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Curry Pumpkin Soup
This recipe can also be found at http://www.allrecipes.com.
(I have made a couple of minor additions and changes.) -- Kelly Midura,
Prague
This soup will warm you to the tips of your toes. Great with cheese biscuits.
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons curry powder
4 cups vegetable broth
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin (or 3 and ½ cups homemade pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream (plain yogurt works great as well and is
healthier)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in flour and curry powder
until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble. Gradually
whisk in broth, and cook until thickened. Stir in pumpkin and half-and-half.
Season with soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring just to a boil,
then remove from heat.
I found this recipe in an old LL Bean cookbook that I picked up at a yard sale nearly two decades ago, and have been using it ever since. You can never tell how long it will take to bake-just leave it in there until the knife comes out clean. --Kelly Midura, Prague
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream, or evaporated milk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons dark rum (or Cointreau)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 dash cloves
1 dash allspice
1 single pie crust
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, mix the pumpkin with the sugars and cream. Beat
well, adding 1 egg at a time, until the mixture is well-blended (before
adding the last egg, remove a little of the white and use for painting
the pastry later.)
Add the remaining ingredients and blend well.
Brush the pie crust with the egg white.
Add the filling to the pie crust and bake in a 450 degree Fahrenheit (220
Celsius) oven for ten minutes, then lower the temperature to 300 degrees
Fahrenheit (150 Celsius) and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife
inserted in the center comes out clean.
Pumpkin Gingerbread
from The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook by Kitty
and Lucian Maynard
This is the one I make a huge batch of every December and do mini-loaves
for all the teachers.
--Francesca Kelly, Rome
Servings: 2 loaves
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
* * *
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. allspice
* * *
2/3 cup water
* * *
1 1-pound can pumpkin
In a large mixing bowl, mix together sugar, oil and egg. In a separate
bowl,
sift the dry ingredients and spices together. Add the sifted ingredients
and
water alternately to the creamed mixture. Beat in the pumpkin. Pour the
batter
into 2 greased 5x9-inch loaf pans. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 1 hour,
or
until done. Makes 2 loaves.
Pumpkin Risotto
Ed. Note: Francesca Kelly writes from Rome, "This is something I
made up after tasting someone else's recipe from an expensive Italian
cooking class (there are a whole bunch of those here, by the way--some
of them for people flying in from the States who want to stay in a farmhouse
in Tuscany and spend 3000 bucks to learn how to work harder in the kitchen
when they get back home!)" Since it's hard to get U.S.-style specific
recipes in many countries, I decided to include this one against Francesca's
inclination, since I think it's an excellent example of Foreign Service
cooking! Try it and see if you miss measurements or not! --JFB
Making risotto is not done at all the way we Americans usually cook rice. You pan-fry it just a little (it has to be special rice for risotto such as Arborio), then just keep adding broth to it until it's the right texture, stirring constantly. Takes about 15 minutes or so to get "al dente." Meanwhile you've already sauteed in olive oil whatever vegetables you're going to use (garlic and fresh pumpkin, in this case) and you just add the rice to that, then start adding the broth (chicken broth or vegetable broth) until it's a nice texture. I also add something they sell here called tartufata, which is minced black truffles, which gives it a heavenly aroma and taste. Then you serve it with a little butter, salt and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
Caribbean Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
We originally made this recipe with pumpkins we grew in our backyard in
the Bahamas. It is adapted from a recipe from Bon Appetit, Nov. 1999.
If you have all the ingredients at hand, the soup cooks up in a snap.
--Jan Fischer Bachman
Serves 4
2 tsp. ground cumin
30 oz. pumpkin puree
2 - 15 oz. cans black beans (or cooked equivalent)
2 - 14 oz. cans coconut milk (NOT with added sugar)
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (canned OR just boil your chicken in
water instead of grilling it and save 2 cups of the liquid OR make with
soup cubes)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 tsp. lime juice (esp. good if you squeeze your own off of your tree
in the backyard! : )
1 1/2 tsp. grated lime peel
In a soup pan, stir the cumin over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the pumpkin, beans, coconut milk, broth and 6 tablespoons of the cilantro. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for three minutes. Add lime juice and peel and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro to serve.