Monday, November 12, 2007

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins

Pumpkin is a common thing to see and eat this time of year. A few weeks ago we got a couple of pie pumpkins. If you have never cooked or eaten some thing made with fresh pumpkin I recommend it. When I was growing up we cooked our jack-0 lanterns every year after Halloween to make pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pie pumpkins are much smaller and less fibrous then carving pumpkins

The first step is to cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff. I found that an ice cream scope worked best. If you put the seeds aside they can be toasted!



There are many ways to cook the pumpkin. I decided to try the baking method. I used a roasting pan placed my two pumpkins in about 1/2 inch of water (this keeps the pumpkin from drying out). Bake them at 350 for about 30 min then test. To test them use a fork or knife and poke a pumpkin, when they are done the knife will slide easily through to the skin. Mine cooked about 50 min.


Once they are done baking, let them cool enough so they can be handled. Next scrape the pumpkin out leaving just the shell. You need to puree the pumpkin, there are many methods of doing this, I used my little mini food processor. I also found that I needed to add a little water to get the pumpkin to blend and become smooth. Once blended you can freeze it till you need some pumpkin!


Now for all those seeds. I have tried doing something with them in the past and have never gotten them to come out quite right but I wanted to try again. First thing to so is to rinse the seeds.


Then spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry. The cooking method I was following said to spread them on a paper towel. Usually they need to dry overnight before cooking them.




This unfortunately is the last stage of my efforts this year. The next day when I wanted to mix them with salt and oil to cook them... they were hopelessly stuck to the paper towels, I might have tried to get them wet and get them to come unstuck but didn't go through the effort to start them again. Good luck with your pumpkins!



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